Tagged: holidaze

11
Dec
2018

SOON THE BELLS WILL START*

I don’t feel very Christmassy. Even though my cards were all signed, sealed and mailed over a week ago, and I’ve been to a Christmas market and bought and shipped several presents, I am just not in the Christmas spirit. I suspect part of the reason is that we are not decorating for the holidays. Normally by now, we’d have a tree (even if it wasn’t yet all the way decorated) and the smell of fresh pine would have filled the house. There are no cheerful Santas or tomtes or reindeer or angels peering at me from various nooks and...

02
Dec
2018

TRADITION, REPETITION OR RUT?

I wrote my first Christmas letter in 2002. We had just built and moved into this house, Martin turned 5 and Karin was 3.5. Anders had turned 40 earlier in the year, I was working at Ericsson, and he had just returned to Tetra Pak after a 2-year stint at ABB. I wrote in MUCH more detail about the things that we did each month than I do now…where did I find the time and energy to gather all that information? My Christmas card now seems to have settled into a rut. I wrote this year’s Christmas letter this weekend,...

23
Nov
2018

GATHERING, GIVING AND THANKING

The whole house smells delicious. Anders is taking turkey 1 out of the oven right now. Tomorrow he’ll cook turkeys 2 & 3 in the final preparation for our annual Thanksgiving (or Friendsgiving as everyone refers to it nowadays) potluck dinner. It’s our 20th anniversary of having Friendsgiving with our best friends. 20 years! Some of them are the same friends that came to the first one. Some of them have joined along the way, and some are fairly new to the celebration. As we have done every year, Anders and I provide the turkey(s), mashed potatoes, stuffing (in the...

08
Jan
2018

BACK TO REALITY

I don’t think this was the first year we didn’t watch any holiday movies, but it’s definitely the first year where I threw away all the ones we have…they were on VHS tapes and we don’t even have a player anymore. Goodbye Rudolph! Goodbye Fred Astaire in Santa Claus is Coming to Town! Goodbye Grinch! Goodbye Ralphie! Goodbye (and good riddance) Little Drummer Boy! I recycled all the cases and Anders will take the videotapes themselves to the dump the next time he goes and make sure they get put in the right place. It made me a bit sad...

25
Dec
2017

HAPPY HAPPY MERRY MERRY

It’s been a very relaxing long holiday weekend here in Flyinge. Unlike most of North America, we’ve had no snow, which is a pity…it’s been the usual southern Swedish mix of rain and grey, but inside candles, advent lights and the Christmas tree area all lit. Martin arrived home on December 19 and time is already flying by. I took two days off so we could get some things done and enjoy his being home before finishing up work before the holidays. It was SO NICE to see him and give him a hug and it’s SO NICE to have...

23
Dec
2017

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2017

2017 started off quietly, with Liz participating in a gospel fest concert and Anders skiing in the Czech Republic, both with colleagues. Liz continues to sing in Eslöv’s pop choir, and is active on the board of the AWC, handling membership, and Anders kept busy mountain biking, competing in several X-Cup tournaments and Cykel Wasa during the year. January also marked our 20th anniversary of moving to Sweden! Hard to believe how time flies! In the beginning of February, Martin received confirmation that he had been accepted into his first place choice for college…at the College for Creative Studies in...

16
Dec
2017

GETTING IN THE MOOD

As always with this journal, I’m torn between simple posts about what’s been happening, what I’ve been doing, and more complex posts about my philosophies and what I think and care about. For the 4 of you reading, does it make a difference? It was an up and down week, work-wise. I tried too hard and went in on Monday, but ended up only managing a half-day before giving up and going home. Tuesday, however, I woke up feeling much better, worked from home all day and by Wednesday felt I was pretty much back to normal. The only other...

03
Dec
2017

LIGHTING THINGS UP

This has been a majorly NON-SLUG weekend here at Chez Ek. Anders, who has apparently been replaced by a pod person, went out yesterday and bought outdoor lights and HUNG THEM ALL ALONG THE FRONT EDGE OF THE HOUSE. He was too funny, because he came in to the bedroom on Saturday morning, where I was still lolling reading, and asked me if he could get one of these. Apparently they sell them here in Sweden, now. Guess who got the hairy eyeball THIS time? 😀 He had no intention of actually buying one, though, and proceeded to look up...

26
Nov
2017

MAKING MERRY & GIVING THANKS (PLUS EATING STUFFING)

Would you believe that the ONLY photos I have of the 2017 Thanks-Friends-Giving-Aganza are a montage of my antique mini silver salt and pepper shakers being filled? SO EXCITING. Back in the day, we used to record our gathering for posterity, posing on and behind the sofa, which children in our laps, etc. Nowadays, we just wait hungrily for everyone to arrive already, throw things in the microwave to heat them up, and stampede to the tables to stuff ourselves. Nary a photo in sight! No one even lifts a camera, ’cause their hands are full of forks and knives,...

12
Nov
2017

GOOD GRAVY

For some reason my last two posts were set to private, though I swear I haven’t changed the settings on my editor, so what the hell, Livejournal? Now I worry I need to check back through every post to make sure they are all visible. No WONDER I don’t get any comments! Drrrr. It was a multiple holiday weekend. We have Mårtens Gås (and Mårtensafton, since Swedes insist on celebrating all holidays the evening before, Veterans Day (in the US), Remembrance Day, and Swedish Fathers Day today. On Friday, Anders’ mom had us all over for a delicious (catered) meal...

October 2025
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  

Archives