In the spirit of trying to write as many posts as possible this year (and next!), here I am. It’s been a busy day in a busy week. Since I got home just before 5 pm I have tidied up, emptied the dishwasher, refilled it, handwashed a pile of dishes, filled in appointments and activities in my 2026 calendars, eaten dinner, listened to Discover Weekly and added a bunch of new music to my playlist, read a couple of newsletters (am behind by a day), and placed my new mousepad (gaming pad, hahahaha) by the keyboard. Still have to install my new mouse, but need some help from Anders since it requires unplugging the old crappy mouse and my knees don’t allow climbing under the desk to do so.
Yesterday, we had our family Christmas with the addition of Theo and Essie and it was super nice. Martin and Theo put my Lego wreath together after they arrived in their festive Christmas sweaters. Anders had been cooking and preparing dishes for the julbord feast since Saturday. He was going to go all vegetarian (Theo is vegetarian) but he got vetoed by the rest of us. I requested smoked salmon and someone else asked for herring. So he did half and half. We had warmed and cold smoked salmon with romsås and hovmästaresås, 2 kinds of herring, plus vegetarian herring made from eggplant, hard-boiled eggs, paté, smoked sausage, vegetarian Janssons made with capers, boiled new potatoes, creamed kale, brown cabbage, vegetarian meatballs, prinskorv, baked ham, vegetarian ham made from celery root, brown breads with butter and 3 kinds of cheese (including honey-drizzled, sliced almond-covered brie courtesy of Karin), and vegetarian ribs made from tofu. For dessert he had made Ris à la Malta and we had some of the cookies from the AIC cookie exchange as well. Before all that was even served, he brought out glögg with almonds, raisins, and gingersnaps. It’s quite possible I gained 10 pounds.
In between the glögg and dinner we opened stocking stuffers. Theo and Essie each got a stocking full as well, and it was really fun to watch them opening all the little things I had found for them. I was really pleased in general with my prowess in finding great stuffers for everyone! And Anders and Karin did a great job with my stocking as well: lots of sea salt dark chocolate, navy socks, makeup, and bird ornaments! After dinner we opened the presents under the dinky tinsel tree (which all the kids thought was hilarious (the tree, not the presents)). Everyone was delighted with both the presents they gave and the presents they got; always a sign of a successful Christmas! After dessert we had to scramble a bit to get the kids to the bus stop so they would get home at a relatively reasonable hour. It was lovely to have everyone home for the whole evening. I wish we had more reasons to get together, more often!
At the dinner table:
Liz: “Oh my god, all this food is so good. All the vegetarian dishes came out great. I especially like the…” …very long pause… “SHAM.”
Everyone: …long pause… *multiple groans*
Liz: “Come on, that was HILARIOUS! Even for me!” *cracks up*
Liz: *laughs and laughs and laughs* (tries to stop) (fails) *laughs some more* … *laughs even harder*
Martin: “It wasn’t that funny.” *laughs*
Liz: “It was totally that funny!” *snort laughs some more*
Karin: “Are you crying?”
Liz: *still laughing, out of breath*
Tomorrow is our department’s Christmas party at a venue in Lund and Friday I have a hair appointment in the morning and Christmas was Debbie and Camilla in the evening. I have already written a list of things that have to be done before Sunday, including PACK. And book the taxi. And CHECK-IN. And then another family Christmas to enjoy!
Mood: happy
Music: Gretta Ray—Positive Spin