What is your current single and/or album? Labor of Love.
How has your Thanksgiving celebration changed since you have became an adult? It has changed in the way that now we actually do celebrate it – it’s a great thing to do and a tradition we want to pass on to our children.
How will COVID-19 impact your Thanksgiving celebration this year? We were supposed to go to my sister’s house, but now we have to celebrate it with only us in our household.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving Day memory? It has to be a few years ago, the first time we celebrated it! We were all telling one thing we were truly happy about before we ate. Then we decided to keep this as a tradition.
What are you most thankful for this year? One thing I’m always thankful for is that my entire family is safe and healthy. Another is that I’ve done so many great things with my music! I really have grown a whole lot and I’m so much further along than I thought I would be.
Do you prefer artificial Christmas trees or real trees? Real trees, even though I have an artificial one because of my wife!
When do you decorate your Christmas tree? This year we have been talking about starting early with just the tree. We’re going to decorate it more and more until it’s finished for Christmas Eve. Before, we haven’t decorated it until the day before Christmas Eve.
What is your favorite Christmas song? What makes it your favorite? “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) – I like it because of the lyrics and it’s got that jazzy feel to it that I think suits a Christmas song.
What is your go-to holiday drink? Hot Chocolate.
What is your favorite Christmas present that you have ever received? I got an Ibanez guitar from my wife that she had collected money from parents and friends so that she could afford it! And I actually didn’t have a guitar at the time. That was amazing.
What were your Christmas traditions when you were younger? We always had a lot of family coming to our house. Then we had a big Christmas dinner and we opened presents after the big supper. And all the kids would get restless cause we couldn’t start opening gifts before everybody had finished their meal. In Norway, everybody opens the gifts on Christmas Eve, not Christmas day!
How have your Christmas celebrations changed since becoming an adult? It’s actually the same thing as always – except for the big family gathering. We have a smaller crowd now that we have our own kids. But other than that, we’ve kept a lot of the old traditions.
What is your favorite Christmas memory? Waking up to the Christmas songs from the same record my mom played every year! When that happened, I knew it was Christmas – and all the snow! I don’t know if I’m remembering it wrong, but I do think there was a lot more snow when I was a kid.
How do you spend the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day? Just relaxing, watching Christmas movies, and eating way too much food.
How do you spend New Year’s Eve? We usually eat at home, then we meet up with a lot of friends and at noon our whole town gathers at a bridge downtown where they’re having a great firework show. It’s really beautiful.
How will the pandemic impact your celebrations? It will be really boring compared to other years. The big party will probably be canceled…. but hopefully, we will enter a much better year!
What do you typically eat on New Year’s Day? Turkey is our favorite every year. We were watching Mr. Bean make his Turkey – and we laugh just as much every time!
Do you have a New Year’s Resolution for 2021? I will remind myself to never take live music for granted! Not when I’m playing or when I’m listening! I will truly appreciate every second of a live show when the world opens up again! Thank you so much for this interview! I truly appreciate it!