Family Birthdays

Yesterday was Suzanna's 27th birthday ... and the 27th time that she has been with her parents on her birthday, even though she lives several states away! Let's see how long we can keep that going. (We already broke the streak with both Abigail and Hillary.)

We picked up coffee and headed to Bismarck, ND, in the morning. We shared appetizers and cocktails at the Ground Round before heading to Tilt Studio, a place in the Kirkwood Mall that is a giant arcade. We played video games, pinball, mini bowling, mini golf, go-karts, and laser tag and had a great time.

We had supper inside an igloo! We ate at the Paddle Trap in Mandan, ND, where we had reservations for "The Polar Trap," their wintertime outdoor dining experience: they set up clear vinyl igloos on their deck with tables, chairs, and space heaters inside. Then we went to Holiday Lights on Main, a Christmas light display in Dykshoorn Park in downtown Mandan. It was fun to explore the many giant light features and pose for pics ... but odd to see it all with so little snow on the ground.

Today we had lunch with Susan's dad, Roger; his girlfriend, JoAnn; and Susan's brother, Jerrett. Tomorrow is Roger's birthday, so this was an early birthday celebration and a chance for the girls to see more family before they leave ND. (We took Hillary to the airport this afternoon, and Suzanna and Zoey will drive back on Friday.) Tonight Suzanna, Susan, and I ate at India Clay Oven in Bismarck for our NYE supper and next will have a video-call with Abigail and Hillary to ring in the new year as a family.

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Before going to the Ground Round, I hung out with Zoey while the ladies got pedicures at a place that pampers with massage chairs and cocktails ... how luxe!

The girls did best at the arcade games and mini bowling, but I kicked their butts at mini golf, go-kart racing, and laser tag!

It's so North Dakotan to subject ourselves to this frigidity just for the unusual dining experience. Behind us are a row of igloos on the deck overlooking the Missouri River.

One of many, many, many over-sized illuminated Christmas decorations in Dykshoorn Park. The below-freezing temps did not keep away the Mobergs ... or several other groups who wandered the displays, posed for photos, and warmed up beside the fire pits.

(Post-)Christmas on the Farm

Susan, Hillary, Suzanna, Zoey, and I hit the road on Friday and headed to my dad's home in Tioga, ND. My sisters (Cathy from Belgrade, MT, and Sandy from McGregor, ND) were already there. We ate supper together and finalized plans for our weekend.

Yesterday we drove out to our family farm, where Sandy now lives. She has a side-by-side (UTV), and she used it to pull us on a sled through the snow drifts in the alfalfa fields and down the gravel roads surrounding the farm. It was the same metal sled upon which my sisters and I used to pull each other behind the snowmobile when we were kids!

Afterward we made a taco bar for our (post-)Christmas meal and then retired to the living room to open our Christmas stockings (yes, Santa visited us again, this time on the farm!) and visit by the Christmas tree while enjoying our margaritas. It was fun to hear Dad tell so many stories from his youth.

This morning we attended church in McGregor, where Sandy is the organist (as our mom used to be!) and where our family went to church while I was growing up. The church served soup and sandwiches afterward, so we stayed for the meal and visited with community members and relatives whom we don't see often. Then we went to Tioga to see Dad one more time before returning to Dickinson.

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Saturday was a beautiful day to be outdoors.

Sandy is in the cab of the side-by-side to drive. This is Susan, Hillary, and Suzanna, sitting in the back to monitor me on the sled (being pulled by that chain).

And here I am on the metal sled, ready for Sandy to hit the gas!

This is Hillary taking a turn on the sled. We were near my uncle's house--those are his trees behind Hillary. He lives a quarter-mile up the road from the farm.

A family photo in two unstitched parts (this one and the next pic). Sandy is the selfie taker. There I am, raising my margarita glass next to Cathy, Susan, and Suzanna.

Hillary is seated to Suzanna's left, and Dad is seated to Sandy's right, which completes the family meal photo.

Sandy's Christmas tree ... with Zoey in the foreground looking on!

Sandy at work, playing a prelude before church on Sunday.

Hillary and Suzanna with their grandpa (and with Zoey).

Ugly Sweater Christmas Cookies

Have you ever been to an "ugly Christmas sweater" party? The goal is to wear the gaudiest, most outlandish Christmas-themed sweater and get people to judge yours as the ugliest sweater of the bunch. Well ...

Susan baked sugar cookies, and she joined Suzanna, Hillary, and me in decorating them this afternoon. One of our cookie cutters is sweater-shaped, which allows us to decorate our own ugly Christmas sweaters and share them with the world to judge! Which one gets your vote?

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Maybe you find one the cutest of the batch, the most creative, the most hideous, or even the most disqualified from competition in a Christmas contest (I mean: Hanukkah?!).

Christmas 2024

Hillary, Suzanna, and her dog, Zoey, are with us for Christmas this year! However, Abigail is not. She is on Long Island in New York, doing a sub-internship for her fourth year of medical school, and she has only today and tomorrow off--not enough time to make it home. We are grateful for video call technology!

Our family usually makes a Scandinavian meal for our Christmas Eve supper (julaftens kveldsmat), which the girls helped me do yesterday. Then we gathered around the tree and opened Christmas presents. We propped a laptop on a chair and video-called Abigail so that she could join us and open her gifts (which Susan had mailed her in advance), too.

This morning we (minus Abigail) attended church together. When we got back home, we video-called Abigail again so that we could open our Christmas stockings together. Afterward we had mimosas with brunch, watched a "Christmas action" movie (Red One--we loved it), ate a seafood supper (crab-stuffed salmon), and enjoyed a relaxing evening together.

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Christmas Eve: creamy cauliflower soup with Gouda cheese and fresh dill

Christmas Eve: roast chicken with orange/herb butter and lingonberry glaze, roasted garlic potatoes, and caraway/coriander carrots

Christmas Eve: Notice Abigail looking on via the laptop on the chair beside Hillary! Susan is the photo taker, and the Christmas tree is between her and Suzanna.

Christmas Eve: Zoey likes her naps! Here she is relaxing by the "fire" at one end of the family room to escape the hubbub around the Christmas tree at the other end of the room.

Christmas Day: Trying to get Zoey to sit still and look at the camera!

Christmas Day: Zoey cuddled with Susan and me while we all watched the movie.

Getting Smarter

Susan and I just spent a week in Boston, Massachusetts, getting smarter together at a few professional conferences!

We both attended the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Susan chose sessions related to high school libraries, looking for new ideas for how she, as a library media specialist, can support other teachers in developing students' literacy. My own goal was to gather ideas for using artificial intelligence (A.I.) tools in college writing classes--specifically, teaching college students how to use A.I. effectively to support their learning, not to cheat their way out of learning (by having A.I. write their essays for them, for example).

Some of the convention highlights were the excellent keynote speakers (see below). Susan and I also had opportunities to explore the area near the convention center and enjoy restaurants including Seaport Social (seafood), Serafina (Italian), and Citrus and Salt (Mexican). We especially loved wandering through an outdoor Christmas market in the Seaport district (called "Snowport" for the winter holidays!).

Immediately following the NCTE conference, the convention center was used for two more conferences of NCTE-related groups--and Susan and I each attended a different one.

• She went to the annual ALAN Workshop (ALAN = Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE), which is all about adolescent literature. Attendees receive a box of about 40 works of recently published books and advance reader copies of upcoming releases. Their authors and more attend ALAN, too, and appear on panels and do book signings. There are also workshops ... and this year Susan presented in a poster session (see photo below)!
• I have attended the ALAN Workshop for several years but this year attended a different event that occurred concurrently: the annual convention of the Conference on English Leadership (CEL). I made connections with other English leaders and heard from keynote speakers, including Carol Jago, whose work I have been familiar with since my English education classes in my undergraduate days.

Susan and I both learned a lot at NCTE, ALAN, and CEL, and we have a lot of resources to share with our colleagues in the coming weeks and months. But for now, we are pooped. That was a long time to be gone--and to be engaged in learning all day and night for six consecutive days. We are ready for a little Thanksgiving break.

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NCTE's keynote speaker on Thursday, November 21, was Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. One of her topics was her recent memoir Lovely One. Despite her important position, she seemed so down-to-earth and shared anecdotes from her impressive journey to the Supreme Court.

The keynote speaker on Friday, November 22, was Kate McKinnon, an actor many people recognize from her years on Saturday Night Live or the recent movie Barbie. She has written a work of adolescent literature called The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science. She was hilarious but humble, saying that she was intimidated to be in the presence of so many people doing such important work: teaching. (There were over 8,000 attendees at the NCTE convention.)

A very Moberg thing is to bump into someone we know no matter where we are. When visiting the vendor booths in the exhibition hall, Susan saw our friend Olivia, who used to work with me in Dickinson and who now teaches at the University of New Hampshire.

The keynote speaker on Saturday, November 23, was Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the memoir Just Mercy. He was an excellent public speaker: polished and mesmerizing.

The keynote speaker on Sunday, November 24, was Ada Limón, United States Poet Laureate. She read from one new and one upcoming book of poetry (here). The already-released book is an illustrated version of her poem "In Praise of Mystery," which was engraved on the Europa Clipper spacecraft that was launched last month to Jupiter and its moons!

Here's a view of the quirky interior of Citrus and Salt. We had a great meal of several small plates that we shared ... and margaritas, of course (which we did not share).

One of the featured speakers at the ALAN Workshop was Randy Ribay, one of my favorite authors of adolescent literature. His recent book Everything We Never Had was an excellent read and has been raking in the awards lately.

Susan's poster session at the ALAN Workshop was on her work to help English teachers in her school to set up individual classroom libraries and to connect them to the school library (that she heads) for a collaborative effort to support high schoolers as readers.