I’m pouting right now. Sulking, nearly. It’s not attractive, I can tell you, yet my sad little pouty heart doesn’t care because it is feeling VERY put out.
This morning was a leisurely one, what with the waking up early but going back to sleep. Dreams shivered past, helping to erase the disappointing memories of a work Christmas party gone terribly wrong and boring. Got up at a decent hour, had breakfast and then we set out for Dalby and the tree nursery where we met up with friends and traipsed about in the woods, hunting for the perfect Christmas tree. Alas, the camera was forgotten so I have no photos of the perfectly picture-postcard evergreens decked with snow.
We walked to the top of the hill, talking and laughing while the kids packed snowballs and dodged and weaved around us. Once in awhile, we strode in from the road along the narrow, squelchy paths, looking for promising pines. Up to the top we went and back again, until Anders, who seems to have an affinity for finding really good trees, called me from the other side to come and look at his latest proposal. I walked around it and hemmed and hawed and mentally measured it against his height and finally agreed, yes, this was the one. So I held the trunk while he sawed and moments later, we had hefted it up and were carting it back down the muddy gravel road. Martin and Karin had already gone ahead with their little tree that we’d found earlier and were waiting by the car.
We had the trees bagged in silvery net and ate some gingersnaps, while Anders enjoyed a cup of glögg with almonds and raisins. By then our friends were deep in the woods still looking for their perfect tree so we called goodbye to them and headed home. At the bottom of the hill in Södra Sandby, we swung in and stopped at the grocery store to buy some items for holiday baking: yeast and saffron, chopped almonds, butter and eggs. Somehow the basket filled up with other stuff and we had 2 big bags full of groceries by the time we walked out again.
I fixed lunch for the kids and myself while Anders was trimming the lower branches off the trees and getting them set up in their holders. They still had blobs of swiftly melting ice on their branches when we cut the net away, so we all circled and peered and pulled them off. After lunch, I made 2 batches of sugar cookie dough and a batch of peanut butter cookie dough and put them all in the fridge to chill. Then I made a batch of rice krispie holly bars and found a batch of chocolate & butterscotch chip cookie dough in the freezer when I went to pull out the frozen pumpkin purée for the pumpkin chocolate chip bars, so I threw that in to defrost as well.
When the tree was dry, Anders strung the lights and put the star on the top. I love the star tree topper. It’s a sort of stained glass piece and it actually has lights inside but we never light it up because it’s an American plug and we have to use a transformer with it. But I think it’s actually prettier when it’s NOT lit, so that’s okay. Martin and I unpacked tree ornaments and laid them out on the dining room table; then he continued unwrapping while I started hanging the larger ornaments and the big glass balls deep in the tree.
Anders made a lovely dinner on my request for his famous shrimp curry, mushroom & paprika grätang, and afterwards I continued hanging ornaments on the tree. What a lovely Christmassy day this had turned into, what with the tree and the decorating and the start of Christmas baking! After dinner, I baked the peanut butter cookies; Martin helping with the flattening and adding of the chocolate chunks, and the chocolate & butterscotch chip cookies.
Then we started myskväll where I eagerly asked if we could watch one of the Christmas movies: Rudolf or The Grinch or maybe Santa Claus is Coming to Town? But Karin wanted to finish watching one of the documentary segments from the LOTR extras and then while I was in the bathroom, the kids decided to watch Ratatouille instead because, and I quote, “those Christmas movies seem to be pretty childish anyway, Mama.”
Childish? CHILDISH? Talking reindeer are childish, but talking RATS are not?? I could feel my lip quivering and a huge pout coming on. It’s 2 WEEKS to Christmas and we’ve only watched A Christmas Story which none of my family appreciates AT ALL. How could anyone consider The Grinch childish???
I’ll show you childish! So, now I’m pouting and sad but nobody is noticing because they’re all watching Ratatouille. *sigh*
I think I’ll go have a cookie.