I survived Christmas 2009, part 2

On the 24th, we loaded up the Burb and drove to our friends' house in Denmark about 2 hours away. A few minutes after having dropped the cats of at the kennel, I was hit by a sense of peace. I realized that there was nothing else that could be done. For the next two days, my to-do list was on hold. Sure, I'd help out at my friend's house, but it was a relief to suddenly be going with the flow.

The snow made for a beautiful drive. Much to our surprise, road conditions were perfect, and there was no traffic. We actually showed up early. For lunch, we had warm rice porridge. Yum! After lunch, we went for a walk and the kids did some sledding. We were very lucky that there was still enough snow left for that. There was a big hill with a whole lot of kids sledding. Unfortunately our kids were determined to take the hill from the top, and they both wiped out big time and arrived home in tears. The traditional Donald Duck Christmas Special (apparently an equally important tradition both in Denmark and Sweden) and some caramel corn quickly raised their spirits again.

The main course for dinner was duck. We also had my red cabbage, gravy, boiled potatoes, caramelized potatoes (yum!), prunes and apples cooked inside the duck, and potato chips (yes, that's part of the traditional Danish Christmas meal). We had rice pudding with cherry sauce for dessert. This has chopped almonds in it, along with one whole almond, and the person who finds the whole almond gets a prize. After the food, we danced (walked really) and sang (hummed at best for those of us who don't know the Danish Christmas songs) around the Christmas tree. Then everyone opens their presents. After the frenzy, just in case anyone's even remotely hungry, it was time for cookies and candy with coffee or tea. I brought banana bread, caramel corn, pecan butterballs, spritz cookies, peppermint meringues, and peanut butter buckeyes. They supplemented with licorice and marzipan/nougat candies.

On the 25th, we took it easy, sat around, and enjoyed each others' company. It rained, and the snow melted. In the evening we made an Indian lamb dish which was a nice break from all the Christmas food, then we drove home.

On the 26th, we finally decorated our Christmas tree. Our daughter picked it out. I think it was wider than it was tall (exactly the opposite of what I would have chosen for our crowded living room), but it turned out nicely anyhow. My husband's mother was supposed to come for Christmas dinner on the 26th and spend the night, but there was some misunderstanding having to do with a dog she was watching that has a problem with cats, so she came for a shorter visit on the 27th instead.

The 27th was also the day I hosted the annual White Elephant Gift Exchange for the neighborhood, so that was a really busy day. It turned out that a lot of the neighbors had other plans, so we weren't so many guests, but it was a lot of fun anyhow. When the guests left, we opened presents again even though my MIL had forgotten to bring her presents. We'd saved some presents for our daughter to open, and we didn't think it was fair to make her wait any longer.

For dinner I prepared a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner (Julbord) which featured ham, meatballs, small sausages, two kinds of pickled herring, smoked salmon, three kinds of breads, three kinds of cheeses, o'gratin potatoes (traditionally it would be boiled potatoes, but I think that's just too boring), and red cabbage. I felt that more veggies were needed, so I also served creamed spinach and fresh cherry tomatoes. Since it was getting late, and we'd already gorged ourselves with cookies and candy all afternoon, we decided to skip dessert.

MIL invited our daughter to go home with her, so we're kid-free for a few days until New Year's Eve.

I survived Christmas 2009, part 1

It's finally time to take a deep breath and let life return to normal. Sort of. I'm in Christmas recovery mode now. After a month of hectic activity and preparations, it's over. We're unexpectedly kid free for a couple of days, so we've spent the time painting the inside of the barn/new garage.

In Sweden, the Christmas season starts with the first of Advent, which this year was the last Sunday in November. That's when the Christmas decorations are put up, and I actually did this on schedule. The first weekend in December, I was in Berlin (more on that later). From the moment I got home, I felt I was playing catch up, both with work and with all the Christmas stuff: cards to write and mail, presents to order, packages to send, cookies to bake, presents to wrap, etc. Then there's all the kid stuff too: cards to make, gingerbread house to assemble, Lucia concert at school, the Lucia/Christmas concert at the church, the violin concert with the music school, and finally the last-day-of-school show (canceled due to snow). That's right, snow! We got plenty of it, and we even had a white Christmas.

We had a real snowstorm on the 18th with over a foot of snow and plenty of wind to blow it into drifts. My husband left for work and made it only about 50 meters before getting stuck in a drift that was deeper than the car. Shortly thereafter, our neighbor came to plow us out and helped pull the car back onto the road. He decided to work from home, but our daughter really wanted to make it to the last-day-of-school show and party, so he drove her to school in the Suburban. Only 2 teachers and about 5 kids had made it to school, so they sent everyone home.

The snow was about two feet deep by the time the snow let up on Saturday. We walked to a party at a neighbor's house, and it was absolutely magical. It felt like walking through a Christmas card. It snowed on and off for the next few days, but it also got warmer, so the snow compacted, and it never got any deeper. On the 23d, it started to thaw. My husband likes to wait until the 23d to do the tree. By then, I was too busy cooking, so he took our daughter to pick out a tree. There were only 4 trees left at the lot, so she got to pick one out, and we got a great deal on it. However, we had so much to do that we decided to wait with bringing the tree in and decorating it.

I just couldn't help myself

I've been totally swamped since I got back from Berlin, but I have tons of pictures and every intention of blogging about it. Today I took a break from everything else I have to do to take some pictures. The sun came out, and with the snow it was so pretty. I just couldn't resist. So here are some pictures. (If you notice the low angle of the sun, that's how it is this far north. These pictures were taken at noon!)

It's the first real snow of the season which started yesterday after several days of teasing with a powered sugar dusting then wet stuff that melted nearly as fast as it fell. I love the snow, and needless to say, my daughter does too. This morning I was reminded about the down side of snow. It took me about 20 minutes to excavate and break into my car. I eventually got the passenger side door opened, and Lina and I climbed in from there. She had to climb again to get out when we got to school. I'd estimate we have about 6 inches of snow, but it's been blowing around, so some areas are nearly bare, and others are a couple of feet deep. You need to keep your speed up to drive through the drifts, but it results in a very satisfying cloud of snow!

Christmas is in the air

December began with the return of the cold weather. The temperature dropped literally overnight from the 40's (6-9 C) down to freezing. The days are still cloudy, but the nights have been clear and COLD. Today it really felt like it was going to snow. The Christmas decorations add to the mood.

Most importantly, I'm excited about going to Berlin. Tonight I leave for Denmark where I'll spend the night at my friend's house, then very early tomorrow, we'll take a bus to Berlin. We plan to do some sightseeing and shopping, but mostly relax and enjoy a mom's weekend out (kid and husband free).

I haven't been to Berlin since 1989, a few months before the Berlin Wall fell. Thus the 20th anniversary of the Wall coming down is a milestone for me too. In 1989 I was in college, traveling with two friends from high school. We did the Eurail thing, covering 9 countries in 5 weeks by train with everything in our backpacks. It was an amazing experience, and I learned a lot about myself. I'd love to reminisce, but now it's time to go! I'll probably be without internet until Monday.

Black Friday

In the US, Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving which is the start of the Holiday retail season. Many refer to it as the busiest shopping day of the year, and while it may feel like it, total sales are usually higher on the Saturday before Christmas. Last year, a Walmart employee was trampled to death by a mob of eager shoppers, and two people were shot to death in an argument at a Toys R Us. Even though there were great sales, I usually avoided shopping on Black Friday when I was in the US because I don't like the crowds.

In Sweden, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, nor is there anything special about shopping the following day. This year I decided not to celebrate Thanksgiving either. I really love Thanksgving: both the food and the social aspect of it, but it's too much work to cook all that just for us. I even like the idea of taking a moment to be thankful. I've tried to incorporate thankfulness into my every day life.

Every year I help my daughter go through her toys and decide what she no longer wants. The stuff that's in good condition, is not battery operated, and does not require reading, gets wrapped up and given to the local newspaper's collection for underprivileged kids in Poland and Lithuania. Some of the other stuff is clearly ready for the trash. My problem is I don't have a good solution for the rest of it, and it's beginning to stack up.

This year it turned out that we were actually shopping on Black Friday. The company where my husband works is trying desperately to save money, so they've put restrictions on travel and overtime. Because of late phone meetings twice per week, my husband gets his 40 hours in Monday through Thursday, so for all of November, he's had Fridays off. (In December he can work all week because the holidays will keep the total hours down.) We still don't know if he'll be going to Japan in December or Miami in January. I'm really ready for some sun, so I hope that he'll still get sent to Miami and that I'll be able to tag along.

So anyhow, we did some shopping errands on Friday. I've been thinking of getting a new camera, so I went to the camera shop to compare. Sure, you can read about the features online, but it really comes down to how the thing feels in my hand. Some models are simply too big for my hand and heavy, and if I'm holding the thing for a 10 hour wedding, that makes all the difference. The sales girl was not particularly knowledgeable, but what really struck me was what a pathetic sales person she was. Sales is looked down upon in Sweden, thus not many people make the effort to be good at it. Pretty much the extent of her sales technique was to unlock the cabinet and hand me the cameras that I wanted to try. I quickly concluded that I wanted the Canon 50D which costs over $1000 just for the body. I practically begged the girl to give me any reason why I should buy the camera then or from her, but she just stared at me. I'm not in any rush to buy the camera, so I'll do some comparison shopping.

So far so good...

I finally got my flu shot on Monday afternoon. My assigned time was between 3 and 7 PM, so I showed up at 3. I'd heard a lot about vaccine shortages and delayed deliveries, so I figured my chances were better if I showed up earlier rather than later. There was a line to show my invitation and ID, then another line to get a number. Then I was told to wait in a hallway with about a hundred other people. Some of these people didn't look so healthy. Most of the people were talking to each other, so the noise level was high. There was a "now serving" number display on the wall, but it wasn't working. A nurse stood in the doorway and called out numbers, but it was pretty much impossible to hear unless you were right next to her. I was torn between not wanting to miss my number and wanting to stay where the there weren't so many people.

When she did call my number, then I got to go into the room, take off my coat and sweater, and wait in line again. Another nurse mumbled something about right or left. Was she asking if i was right or left handed, or if I wanted the shot in the right or left arm? She asked again, and I still couldn't understand. I was having a bad tinnitus day, so this was really frustrating. I chose to say that I'd prefer the shot in the left arm. A quick jab and I was done. Despite all the waiting in line, the whole process took only half an hour.

I'd heard a lot about side effects from the shot. Most of the people I'd heard about felt bad within 12 hours, others more like 24. It has now gone 48 hours, and I'm still doing fine, so I guess I got lucky. About an hour after the shot, I got tired and a slight bit dizzy, but that only lasted a couple of hours. The first night my upper arm where I got the shot was a little tender, but it didn't affect my sleep. By last night my arm was more sore, and both shoulders were stiff. It was uncomfortable to sleep on my left side. So I'm glad I got the shot. I hope it works, and I don't get the flu.

Treed in (like snowed in, but with a tree instead of snow)

A storm blew in last night. The wind was 25 mph (11 mps) and temperature 46 F (8 C). With wind chill than made for 37 F (3 C), but that doesn't take into account being pelted with rain and wet leaves. Overnight the storm was estimated to have gusted up to 56 mph (25 mps).

This morning we discovered that a tree had broken and fallen over our driveway. My husband was out of town on a business trip, otherwise he would have discovered this on his way out well before me. The first few calls I made weren't so promising, and I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get my daughter to school any time soon. I called the mom of one of her classmates who lives around here, and she came and drove my daughter to school. If I'd had that thought sooner, I might have caught her before she left to deliver her own daughter, but luckily she didn't mind making an extra trip.

Soon the message I left for our neighbor farmer was heard, and he sent one of his workers over with a tractor. It took only a couple of minutes for him to use the tractor to push the tree off the road. A little while after that, my internet connection started working again, so we're good.