Tagged: holidaze

03
Dec
2009

BOMBS, MOONS, HOLIDAY CROONS

December is like a ticking time bomb, with giant 7-segment alarm-clock red numbers counting down faster than I can even find wire cutters for, much less figure out whether to snip the red one or the green one before everything goes BANG! The moon was full yesterday: it was hanging out well above the horizon yesterday morning, huge and shining white against the dawning sky, about 3 times as big as normal. If I had only left for work about half an hour earlier, I bet it would have filled my vision until I fainted from the lack of space...

29
Nov
2009

MERRY CRANBERRY!

It’s official! The holidays are here! We started decorating the house today, went to a glögg party and I “baked” the first cookies of the season. Using the term “baked” very, very loosely. My friend Debbie served these at a book group this past year and I’ve been badgering her for the recipe ever since. I decided they would be the cookie I’d take to the AWC Holiday Cookie Exchange, and when I called her a couple of weeks ago to remind her, she said, “Darn! I was hoping you’d forgotten about them, because I was going to make you...

29
Nov
2009

NOT ONLY TO UTTER WORDS, BUT TO LIVE BY THEM*

Year after year, the things I am thankful for remain much the same. They’re so obvious, they almost go without saying. And yet, to go without saying them is unthinkable; I can’t take them for granted, and yet isn’t that what we do, so much of the time? We go through our daily lives and we can’t fall down on our knees every moment. There’s lunch to be packed and homework to be done and beds to be made and meetings to go to. There are cookies to be baked and children to be hugged and dogs to be walked....

12
Nov
2009

THERE’S A POINT IN THERE SOMEWHERE

I’m starting to get excited about the holidays now. Especially since I just got the news that my mom is coming! YAY! She’s coming AFTER Christmas, but that’s okay because she’s staying for nearly a month. Woot! And hopefully, my brother and Simone will be able to come up for at least a few of the days between Christmas & New Year’s, too. Hope, hope! Question for parents: how late do your kids stay up? (did I ask this before? or am I just having déjà vu?) If they stay up until 10 on a school night, what age were...

01
Nov
2009

EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE

If I went back and read through entries from former years written about this same time, I suspect that a theme of split restlessness and lethargy would be revealed. It’s hard to understand how I can feel both so itchy to do something that I can’t identify and sluggish and slow at the very same time. The weather is reflected my mood today: grim and gray and cantankerous, blowing this way and that. The AWC Halloween party was a smash success, a record-busting bash. There were 213 people attending, the most we’ve ever had at any AWC event in our...

28
Oct
2009

WHEN BLACK CATS PROWL & PUMPKINS GLEAM

I had an unexpected phone call at work this morning from a radio personality that had gotten my name from one of our neighbors who works for a broadcasting company in Malmö. The man who called me works for Sverige’s Radio and had been told that I was a “Halloween expert”. Haa! I guess being an American in Sweden qualifies me as a Halloween expert, if anyone is! He asked me several questions about Halloween: when it was, what you were supposed to do, did you have to dress up, what were the rules for trick-or-treating, etc. I answered him...

25
Oct
2009

CHOPPING SCOOPING CARVING LIGHTING

It’s been a cold, grey, rainy weekend, with not a lot of plans and a lot of dozing, reading, desultory house-cleaning and laundry. Yesterday we decorated the foyer with cobwebs and spiders, glow-in-the-dark ghosties and disembodied hands. We brought in the waiting pumpkins and chopped holes in their heads, scooped out their insides and carved up their faces. They don’t look too sad about it, though, do they?

16
Jul
2009

MEETING POINT

The place we stayed at in the Netherlands is in a little dangly bit of the country that hangs below the rest of Holland like a pom-pom poodle tail. To the left is Belgium and to the right is Germany and about 3 kilometers up the road from the apartment is the place where the 3 countries come together. It’s called Drielandenpunt, or “3 Country Point” and it has its own website (though not in English), and is located at the top of the highest point in the Netherlands, Mount Vaals. The hill is just over 1000 feet high (322...

14
Jul
2009

CASTLES & CAVERNS

I like castles a lot. What’s not to like? Oh sure, they’re often drafty, and probably a nightmare to maintain and let’s not even mention the heating bills, but imagine! Living in a castle must make you feel like the aristocracy whether or not you actually have any drop of royal blood running through your veins. When we lived in Europe and traveled all over the place, we always visited castles. When we visit my brother in Bavaria, invariably a castle sneaks on to the agenda. In Wales for a week while Anders went to a class, when Martin was...

12
Jul
2009

THE BEST ANTIQUES TO COLLECT ARE OLD FRIENDS

The last day of vacation was both a lazy one and a busy one. I slept in super late, after waking briefly around 9 a.m. and then dozing off again. The sun was shining most of the day and it warmed up nicely in the afternoon. Martin and I completely cleaned out his room in preparation for Anders to start the re-decorating work. I went to the grocery store, did a load of laundry and baked & decorated a cake. Tomorrow is a crazy day: I’m sure work will be frantic and stressful, though I hope it’s not too bad....

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