Well, even though I’M done shopping, Martin still wants to buy something for his father, and even though Anders is going shopping tomorrow (for me!) Martin doesn’t want to go with him, as he doesn’t want Anders to guess what his present is, so I guess I have to go brave the malls again. I also have to go to Lund anyway to see if the optician is open because my eyeglasses broke this morning…one of the earpieces came loose… (they’re very discreetly taped for the moment) to see if they can be repaired. 🙁 ARGH.
The sun was shining so much today that I actually had to wear sunglasses while on our way to a big julbord lunch with Anders’ family. It was at a nice old-fashioned inn out in the woods, a really big spread that included 20 or more different kinds of herring. I’m not a huge herring fan, but I’ll eat a piece once in awhile. I had a piece of curry herring today and it was okay, but the salmon was fantastic. That’s what I ate most of, but I was pretty proud of myself for actually managing not to eat too much, which isn’t easy at these things because you are supposed to keep going back and filling up your plate: first with fish, then with cold cuts, then with warm food, and lastly with dessert. Needless to say, none of us wanted any dinner this evening.
I started wrapping presents this evening, something I like doing, and something I’ve learned to be good at. It must have been my mom who taught me how over the years: how to eyeball measuring a package, how to do the corners, and the folding, how to tuck the edges for a cleaner, nicer look. She taught me (and my siblings, I suppose) how to tie bows and how to curl them. I’ve always liked making pretty packages with ribbons and gift tags. In our family, we always saved the fronts of Christmas cards and used them the following year to make gift tags with, a tradition I still follow, though I’m lazier about it then I used to be: often just writing the to & from directly on the paper these days.
The box of Christmas cards was always so fun to go through each year, and there were always a few that were so beautiful no one wanted to use them; they stayed in the box for years and for all I know, Mom might have them still.
It seems strange that Christmas is still 3 days away…it was rushing up on me faster than I appreciated just a few weeks ago. Now, with everything done and ready, I suddenly feel as if time has slowed to a crawl. Perhaps it’s the turn of the earth back toward the sun that I’m feeling, that slow ricochet back to the light. Everyone else seems to be getting socked with snow, but here in southern Sweden the fields are all turning green again. Sun all morning, rain all afternoon. The weather forecast has been promising snow for Christmas day, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll get a share, too.
Crazy cool stuff: Awesome water show (thanks for the link, Chuck!)