Karin was going crazy in the days leading up to Christmas: the anticipation was too much for her. She couldn’t sleep and she counted down the hours like a proper OCD sufferer, mentioning the fact that it was “nearly Christmas” almost every hour of the last couple of days. On Christmas morning I found her asleep on the living room sofa…she hadn’t been able to fall asleep in her own bed.
We had our usual Swedish/American traditional mix of celebrating: Swedish on Christmas Eve with Anders’ family over, a Swedish julbord made by Anders and his mom that included homemade meatballs and home-baked sourdough bread: YUM, and Kalle Anka at 3 o’clock on Swedish television. In the beginning it was very hard for me to sit through an hour of DISNEY shorts on Christmas eve…it seemed the most bizarre of things to do, but it’s grown on me. Anders said it was the fifty-fourth year in a row that Swedish Television has broadcast Kalle Anka. Then we opened presents from his parents and one gift each from under our own tree.
After the kids (finally! it’s getting harder as they stay up so late these days) went to bed, we finished wrapping stocking stuffers and put the last few things under the tree. I expected we’d be up early thanks to Karin, but because she had such a hard time falling asleep, we actually made a late start to the day. We got up around 9:30 and opened stockings. Then the family rule is showers and breakfast before we tackle the tree (“More torture!” according to Karin). Everyone was very pleased with their presents and the reception of the gifts they gave, and the kids declared it the best Christmas ever. I got a wonderful gift from my mom and great presents from my family as well. We had a fabulous turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings and I made corn souffle after finding cans of creamed corn a week ago at the American store: SCORE! I have certainly gained something like 20 pounds this month, so January will have to be a serious belt-tightener.
It’s hard to believe that Mom is only here today and tomorrow and leaves the day after. It always goes too fast. WAY too fast. She’s off to Germany on the 28th to stay for 3 weeks with my brother. Their baby finally arrived…on Christmas Eve! So now we have a second little German-born boy in the family: Jakob Liam who gave Simone a much harder time of it than they expected, though everything came out alright in the end and Sammo is now a big brother! We can’t wait to meet him, though it will probably be summer before that happens.
Tonight is dinner with friends and tomorrow the AWC Glögg fest…there are not very many people signed up, but it should still be fun. We won’t stay late since Mom has to have time to pack. Wah! On Saturday, I’m picking up my friend Camilla on the way to drop mom at the airport and then she and I are going to Debbie’s for a sleepover. That will distract me from missing mom, anyway!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that the rest & relaxation continues through the season. XOXO to you all and God Fortsättning!