After a summer of upheaval and no breaks at all since then, we decided that, this year, we would stay put for Christmas. Our first Christmas in Sweden, in our new home, just the three of us. Visitors were welcome, but other than a brief stay by my mum at the beginning of Christmas week, it really was just the three of us.
Our first Swedish Christmas probably wasn't very Swedish at all - no julmust, glazed ham, or herring salad. Just food plucked from the fridge when we felt like it. On Christmas eve I prepared a simple salmon dish. Leftovers of that for Christmas Day lunch. Spaghetti bolognese for dinner that day, because that's what we felt like. The Bean opened a few presents on Christmas Eve, got distracted with them, opened a couple more the next day. Two new toys, a pair of pyjamas covered in a panda print, a couple of books. I wasn't sure about how the PJs would go down, but in the end he wore them for three days straight and would only answer to "little panda" for a while. Never underestimate the power of the panda PJ.
Our first Swedish Christmas probably wasn't very Swedish at all - no julmust, glazed ham, or herring salad. Just food plucked from the fridge when we felt like it. On Christmas eve I prepared a simple salmon dish. Leftovers of that for Christmas Day lunch. Spaghetti bolognese for dinner that day, because that's what we felt like. The Bean opened a few presents on Christmas Eve, got distracted with them, opened a couple more the next day. Two new toys, a pair of pyjamas covered in a panda print, a couple of books. I wasn't sure about how the PJs would go down, but in the end he wore them for three days straight and would only answer to "little panda" for a while. Never underestimate the power of the panda PJ.
The Days In Between were spent doing not very much at all. We had made plans to explore, take trains, go away - really we had. But in the end the lure of bed socks and knitting, e-books and toy trains, blankets and bullar, was just too strong. Occassionally we ventured out for a walk, but there's nothing like an uncooperative almost-three-year-old and 53 layers needing to be put on, to drain you of that smidgen of motivation.
New Year's Eve was, on the other hand, quite Swedish. Go us. Or rather, go our hosts - we were invited for dinner at the home of some new friends, and I don't think I'll ever be able to explain to them properly how touched we were by their graciousness and hospitality. At the stroke of midnight I had a moment of giddyness - our Italian lives are well and truly in the past now - as well as of gratefullness: we got here, with so many people's support and patience.
From New Year's Day onwards the Swedish Winter remembered what it was supposed to be doing, and it's been cold. Frozen sea cold, as we discovered one particularly motivated day.
From New Year's Day onwards the Swedish Winter remembered what it was supposed to be doing, and it's been cold. Frozen sea cold, as we discovered one particularly motivated day.
So that's it, really. Three weeks of Christmas holiday, on our own, in Sweden. We've played and made a lot. Slept properly for the first time in three years because the Bean has discovered lie-ins, although we have had to give up the idea of having the bed to ourselves entirely. For the first time in the History of Christmas, I'm sure, we haven't over-eaten because we couldn't really be bothered with either shopping or cooking much. It has been odd not to see my nephews jostling around the tree, or squeeze old friends at New Year's. I've thought about them, wanted to see them and remind them how much we hope to see them this year. Don't forget us, out here in Sweden. Wonderful Sweden, which has given us our first Christmas as a contented, sleepy, wrapped up little threesome.
However you ended up spending your holidays and whoever with, I hope it was all you dreamed of. Here's to 2016!
