The sun was starting to set at around three o’clock on Christmas Eve.
The day’s shortest day has been and gone – but someone forgot to tell the sun. I didn’t mind as I was out testing my new SLR camera…
May all your skies be beautiful ones!
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The children’s excitement about Christmas has reached seismic levels that cannot be measured on a Richter scale of anticipation and enthusiasm.
Each morning in the run-up to Christmas Eve – which is the BIG day here in Sweden when Santa leaves presents – the kids have been getting up and swabbing floors and windows (at around 6 am) in the hopes of keeping on Santa’s nice list!
In olden days, Swedes had house elves for that sort of thing and you only had to pay them with porridge rather than yawn-filled early mornings.
The anklebiters are also keen on the idea of having Christmas chocolates, preferably ones that they have made themselves out of melted chocolate or cocoa powder, milk and sugar!
They are eager to clean up after themselves, conveniently self-defeating though, as they forgot to clean their hands, thus peppering the house, walls, floor and fridge with delicious smears.
Oh, well – we usually just decorate the house with towers of LEGO. The chocolate handprints are a nice festive touch!
May you all have a laughter and chocolate filled Christmas!
December is a time of magical snowflakes, soft candlelight, sweet songs and even sweeter gingerbread…
The Swedes love gingerbread, but not gingerbread men with their eyes of icing sugar. No, they put together simple or elaborate houses made of gingerbread, stuck together with burnt sugar and topped with hard white icing. After New Year, they hold parties where they dance around the tree to say good-bye to it and then they break the gingerbread houses made so lovingly – and eat them.
We have a new bakery in town – with the most delightful display in the window. Our old church (nearly 1,000 years old in fact) has been immortalized in gingerbread and icing sugar!
What I love about this picture is that you can see the reflection of the actual physical church in the window.
I wish you all a delightfully sweet Christmas!
For more delicious posts, please visit: That’s My World!
A real live baby reindeer…
Now – where did I put that shiny red nose of mine?
For more pets, please visit: Pet Pride.
We’re having lovely crispy nostril-hair-freezing-and-cracking kind of weather.
But look at that glorious morning sun!
It is cold and snowy. The bitter wind blows the snowflakes into my face as I plod homewards with the kids. Going from school to home along the slippery pavement requires effort and concentration.
Head downwards, I concentrate on my shoes – and my troubles. I will my feet to stay rooted to the pavement, pray for gravity to pull me pavementwards, to anchor me…
Suddenly, from behind me, sweet singing soars upwards, like balloons filled with musical air flying up, upwards to meet the snow and the stars.
It is the children, singing a song to welcome in the winter, to embrace the snow, to dance on the wind.
I look up and smile.
My feet are free from their tethers and I lose myself in that single snow-filled magical moment of song and joy.
It is only a moment, yet it is my whole world.
On 13 December, Swedes get up at the crack of dawn to celebrate the festival of Santa Lucia: schools, shopping centres, the streets — all are full of young girls with fire in their hair, who go round singing beautiful Lucia songs together with an entourage of handmaidens and Santa’s helpers.
The girl who is Lucia has real burning candles in her hair as she leads a procession of young women (and even boys these days, of course) bearing candles. They sing Lucia songs in Swedish – but they originate from the Neapolitan song of Sankta Lucia, which the Scandinavian tradition is based on.
There are several different legends about Lucia. Everyone agrees that she was a young girl living in Sicily in about 300 AD. Some say that she hid persecuted Christians and was burned at the stake for helping them. However, the fire refused to burn her and she ended up having her throat slit. Yes – these legends are a bit gory!
Other stories say that she fell in love with a young man who spurned her. So, in a foolish act of unrequited love, she is said to have cut out her own eyes and sent them to the man she loved. A rather strange way of declaring undying love! But as they say, love is blind…
A more likely story is that in the Julian calendar, December 13th was the longest night of the year and people in the olden days believed that evil spirits were abroad then, so they burned lots of fires to keep the spirits at bay.
Whatever the origins, this Italian saint is now the Scandinavian symbolic figure: the bringer of light. It’s all about bringing light to the darkness of winter, of bringing warmth into the cold.
Saffron buns (but not made by me!)
And, of course, it’s all about food and drink! This is the time when Swedes go mad in the kitchen and bake up storms of gingerbread and Lucia buns – more commonly called, Lucia cats (lussekatter in Swedish). These are saffron-flavoured sweet buns shaped like curled up cats with raisins for eyes. You eat these morning, noon and night – washed down with coffee or glögg. Glögg is like mulled wine spiced with cinammon sticks and cloves. You put raisins and almonds in a small cup and then fill up with glögg – and drink. You then use dainty little teaspoons to eat up the wine-soaked raisins and almonds…
And, now – if you’ll excuse me. I can hear a Lucia cat meowing to me from the kitchen!
For more glimpses into other parts of the world, please visit: My World!
I found a delightful photo on this site, which I’d like to share.
I don’t know where it was taken, but I can just imagine cycling down a lonely lane in Scotland and coming across this scene.
Why is it there is always a queue outside the Ladies but not the Gents?
For more amusing pets, please visit: Pet Pride
Who says Scandinavians don’t have a sense of humour?
(I found this gem on the Internet, but with no information as to who the photographer is. Whoever you are – I thank you for making me laugh!)
I know the title sounds like an Abba song… but this is my very last post about my birthday. I promise!
I just wanted to say a huge enormous glittery THANK YOU to my insane kind friends who organized a party at their house, cooked all the food and then cleaned up after we had all gone home. It was no mean feat considering the kids outnumbered the adults….Did I mention how crazy wonderful they are?
I even got a delicious chocolate cake – and a royal crown and wand. I kicked off things nicely by asking everyone to address me as Your Majesty for the entire evening…
I may have got a bit carried away waving my wand around and ordering people to obey me! Not all the adults thought it was fun to hop backwards on one leg while holding their noses and trumpeting like elephants. (Not really sure why – because it was hilarious to watch)…
I thought I detected some quiet mutterings wondering whether I had just turned 50 or 5.
Or, as the oldest anklebiter put it, “You’re really getting in touch with your inner child, mama!”
 | Carol on Christmas sunset |
 | RichJo on Christmas sunset |
 | Far Side of Fifty on Gnome sweet gnome |
| Far Side of Fifty on Christmas sunset |
 | Regina on Christmas sunset |
