December has been all about the snow. On December 23, we had a full on blizzard. We heard that even major roads were closed not too far from here, but we have a 4 wheel drive jeep, and my husband was determined to get out. After the neighbor came by with the plow, we were able to make it to a friend's house to celebrate his 40th birthday. He had been prepared for a lot of guests, but we were pretty much the only ones who made it. That must have been so disappointing.
On the 24th we were to visit friends in Denmark. We budgeted an extra hour for driving time, but that was nowhere near enough. It took my husband 3.5 hours with the backhoe to dig 100 meters to the neighbor's mailbox. We then tried driving out but promptly got stuck about 1 car length beyond where he had dug. While he was pulling the car out of a drift with the backhoe, the neighbor came with his big loader and started digging out the road from the other end. The drifts were far too deep and heavy to plow, so he had to take the snow one scoop at a time. It took about half an hour before both my husband and neighbor got that last stretch of road cleared, but then we were off. The neighbor recommended which route was likely the clearest, and while the road was at best one lane wide, we made it the 20 km into town. From there, it was like there was no snow problem at all. The roads heading west were nearly clear. (East was another story entirely, but fortunately not our problem.)
We arrived three hours late, but our friends were understanding and happy to see us. The weather conditions in this part of Sweden had even made the news in Denmark. They had saved some home made rice porridge for our lunch. Yum! We played a board game before dinner. The kids chose Monopoly, so we put a time limit on it.
Dinner featured roast duck, caramelized potatoes, boiled potatoes, gravy, red cabbage (both mine and the kind from a jar that her husband likes), and the fruit that had been stuffed in the duck. I am a huge fan of Danish caramelized potatoes, but I've always found it a bit odd that potato chips are served as part of the holiday meal. Dessert was rice pudding with almonds and cherry sauce. As usual, amongst all the coarsely chopped almonds was one whole one. The person who got the whole almond got a special present.
After dinner, we sang Christmas carols and danced around the Christmas tree. I'm always impressed that our friends have real candles on the tree. This year, they had electric lights for the first time as well, but the electric lights were not used until after the dancing was over and the candles extinguished. Next we opened presents, and finally we ate the cookies that I'd brought (pecan butterballs, spritz cookies, peppermint meringues, caramel popcorn, and fudge) with coffee and tea.
On the 25th, we took it easy, played with our presents, and enjoyed each others company. I think this has become as important a tradition for us as the meal and the presents. We ate leftovers and soup. We went for a walk, we played Monopoly again, and we did a puzzle.
It was so nice to relax after all the holiday preparations and stress. We'd originally planned on going home in the evening, but after calling the neighbor to check on the road conditions, we decided to stay an extra night. We drove home on the morning of the 26th, and by then the neighbor had plowed so it was no problem. We were a little concerned about how the cats had handled being left alone, but they did just fine. The only damage was that Lina's gingerbread house was a bit nibbled.
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