christmas 2008

Christmas at our house this year started with a couple giddy kids. Anybody know who Avatar the last airbender is? I think if we shave Jake's head and paint a big blue arrow on him he'd be spot on.

Every night the Swedish public television showed a portion of a 24 part Christmas show for the kids. Twenty four being the number of days during advent. They also got a calendar each from mormor that had a small piece of chocolate for each day of advent. The boys would eat that day's chocolate after the kids' program. It's safe to say they may have been under the influence of chocolate during these photos.


We got to enjoy a julbord with friends at the church in Hemmesta where we've been going. It was very nice and the community warm.

We also got a package in the mail from Uncle Dwight and Aunt Julie. It was a pile of balsam wood planes and buckeyes! Both were much appreciated.



The day before Christmas Eve we got another package from Aunt Margaret. She sent clothes, books, hotwheels and Busken's iced cookies that all disappeared by Christmas Eve. I don't know if Busken's has an international following but she may have seeded one. She also sent the movie 'Polar Express' which is one of the boys' all time favorites. Needless to say we watched it the next morning.

Sammy showing off one of his new cars and an injury he gave himself the previous day. It has since become a lot more colorful. He and Jake watched a cartoon with martial arts and before long they were running through the house acting it out. Sam eventually sprung over the back of a couch and ricocheted into a coffee table. It was scary and a bloody at first but by now he's almost forgotten about it.

Christmas Eve the kitchen at mormor's was really crowded. Mormor spent the previous day or two preparing Christmas Eve dinner. In Sweden it's traditional to have a big late lunch on Christmas Eve with many types of meat and fish. This year we had ham, lamb, meatballs, sausages, beef tounge, salmon, herring with red beets, with curry and potatoes, and in a couple different sauces. There were also deviled eggs.

Sam and Johannes are forming a natural alliance against their older brothers. It's neat to see. It's also one of the few times we get to hear Sam speak Swedish when the cousins are all together.

One of the decisions of the alliance - good or bad - was to not give anyone a good picture this year. Somehow we got this one.



After lunch the family watches a broadcast collage of cartoons simply referred to as Kalle Anke (Donald Duck). Not all the cartoons are Donald or Disney, but no kid's Christmas in Sweden is complete without them. Sometime after the cartoon Santa usually comes or makes a drop off. This year he left presents outside in sacks. After presents there's a long hang out time playing with new toys. Then a little snacking. The kids took the opportunity to devour the pepparkakor house.

One of the gifts Santa brought Joel's kids was nerf guns with about 2 dozen spongey darts with velcro tips. Man are they fun. We have since found about dozen darts after everyone left.

Christmas morning was cold. Being this close to the water everything gets a thick layer of frost crystals when it's below freezing. Pretty.


On Christmas Day it's tradition to take a long walk to walk off part of the previous day's dinner. If you're lucky you can catch friends and neighbors out too who have returned for the holiday. Hannah took along her favorite present.

On Christmas Day we drove to Rolf & Rosi's for lunch. It was great. From there we went our separate ways.

This year it seemed like the Christmas season was just right. Just enough reverence. Just enough work ahead of time to alleviate the stress. And yet not too much work to take away from the fun. May as well enjoy the ride.

This year we did.