Christmas

Christmas has passed for yet another year and my wish for you is that it brought you all the joy and happiness that it should. Seeing family and friends, exchanging good wishes and small gifts, eating lots of food, and possibly having afew drinks to celebrate the season.

My Christmas was very nice and relaxing. Although in Sweden my spirit, hopefully, was in Canada as I missed all of you during the holiday. This year the time was spent at the Fricks farm in Lundsjön. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Searching For a Christmas Tree

To get the christmas tree, we hopped on a sled pulled by the snowmobile. Erik, Lina's younger brother drove with the help of his father Kalle. Going into the forest to collect the tree reminded me of my childhood when Dad, Nick and I would go to the forests in Singizi (South Africa) to get the tree, minus the snow and cold. It was a very family oriented moment, which caused me to wish that mine was here alongside me.




After finding the perfect one, cutting it down and transporting it home, we then began decorating it. This was done while Maria, Lina's mom was in the kitchen slaving away on the meal.





After the tree was decorated and before the meal, I participated in a fairly modern Swedish tradition- one that makes the whole country come to a standstill. At 3:00 on December 24, everyone has closed the shops, left work, got the kids, etc. and rushed home to watch.... Donald Duck. The Disney movie consists of cartoon clips- mickey mouse, donald duck, robin hood, etc. It is the same every year with the exception of one new clip. I must say it was an interesting tradtition.

The Swedish Christmas meal is very large and has many different plates: lamb, ham, fish- salmon, pickled herring, trout, more herring, brussel sprouts, salad, pates and liverwursts, cheese, sausages and meatballs and finally potatoes- lots and lots of potatoes. These potatoes are cooked in various ways- boiled, scalloped and scalloped with salmon. For dessert it was rice pudding with a strawberry sauce. Along with the food, comes the drinking. Schnapps was served- and I had the pleasure (not so much) of trying the 60% vodka schnapps- wow did it ever burn going down! It is a good thing I had a few glasses of wine to chase it with.




Friends from the village came over for dinner both on December 24th and 25th- which was quite enjoyable.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing- reading a book, taking a walk, a few pictures.

My Brothers Visit

Nick has come for a visit- which has been fantastic. So far things have been really busy-



Friday
I picked him up and left him at my place to sleep while I was in school. For lunch we went, with some friends to a restaruant on top of the Östersund Water Heater (a very large boiler) and had a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner. The meal consisted of herring, salmon, meatballs, sausages and ribs as well as potatos, pepperkoka (ginger cookies), cheese and bread and of course jul öl (christmas beer, which has a fairly sweet taste). After stuffing ourselves, Nick and I went back to my house and chatted for awhile- catching up. That evening we went to the local school pub, Oscars, and had a few beers. It was quite enjoyable and there were many friends from school there to meet Nick.



Saturday
The morning came rather early- due to the late night, but at 8:00 we got up to be treated to an traditional english breakfast by my neighbour Robert. After breakfast we drove him to the airport to catch his flight home to Croatia for the Christmas break.

We quickly came home to bed. That afternoon Nick, Lina and myself went downtown to do some shopping (window shopping of course) .

For dinner we were invited to Magnus and Ida's for a potluck christmas meal- which was fantastic. We brought Shepards Pie- which was a huge hit. Nick got his first taste of Julmust (which is christmas pop- similar to rootbeer) and traditional swedish schnapps- which is basically a shot of vodka- Nick was expecting something sweet because of the name- he associated it with Peach Schnapps or Pepperment Schapps- least to say, he was a bit surprised when he downed that shot. I did not have the pleasure of trying this tradition as I was driving.

Between dinner and dessert we had a contest- a gingerbread house making contest- which was a blast. It was boys against girls- and through the results, we could see who was more creative. The boys just built a house- the girls built a tent with a chimney, a dog house, trees and bushes, a dog and a reindeer.

Then came the tobogganing (pulke in Swedish). We went to the ski hill on Frösön for some sledding- which was fantastic, lots of fun.

Sunday
We slept in today- the plan was to catch the 8:00 train to Åre (a popular ski resort town) to walk around and take some pictures- possibly participate in some sauna action, but no such luck. We walked to town and hung around abit and then went back home to bed. We were exhausted! The night before we had stayed up really late watching a movie (till three in the morning, The Kindom of Heaven). Lina came over afterwards and we played cards and watched another movie (Four Weddings and A Funeral), played poker and 'finns i sjöan' (go fish, in Swedish). Nick has learnt to count in Swedish as well as some key phrases- hello, goodbye, thanks, your welcome, very good, etc.



Monday
Was a relaxing day- I went to school, we worked out afterwards and then relaxed for the rest of the day.


Tuesday
Kalle, Lina's father, found some cross country skiis that fit Nick, so this afternoon we went cross country skiing. It was a beautiful day for it! Lina's mom made us Lussebulle (buns with saffron) and hot chocolate afterwards.




Wednesday
It is a shopping day- Christmas shopping that is. It was my last day of school before the Christmas break and so, I had class this morning. This evening, Lina's mom is making us dinner and then we are going to the pub for a few drinks. Because it is the last day of school, there should be alot of people out.


Thursday and Friday
These two days were spent hanging out, relaxing, catching up. Alittle christmas shopping was done, packing, etc.

I really enjoyed having him here for the week. It was nice to be able to show him my current life- introduce him to my friends and have him experience a small part of what I am experiencing. I learned alot about him as well during this time. I can't remember when I have spent this much time with him all at once; for the last 6 years or so, a time when one, if not both of us had left the home and venured out on our own, very little time was spent together. This visit was a nice change.

Lucia

The Swedish Lucia celebration is an annual festival of medieval origin, observed on the 13th of December. On this day, the darkness is brightened by Saint Lucia, a creature of goodness and light who opens the door to the Christmas season.

Named after a Sicilian saint, the Swedish Lucia does not have much in common with her namesake. She is celebrated in a variety of ways, but the most common is the Lucia procession consisting of a group of young girls and boys singing traditional Lucia songs.

On her head, the girl or woman playing the part of Lucia wears a wreath of lingonberry sprigs with holders for real candles (battery-powered ones are sometimes a safer option) to give the effect of a halo. She also has a white, full-length gown with a red ribbon around her waist. Her female attendants (tärnor) wear similar gowns and the "star boys" (stjärngossar) wear white pointed hats decorated with stars. Lucia processions are held in various places, ranging from kindergartens and schools to churches and the Swedish Parliament.

Lucia can be perceived as a symbol of the good forces in life and a symbol of light in the dark winter. She usually appears early in the morning, bringing coffee and saffron-flavored buns (lussekatter) traditionally eaten around Christmas time in Sweden.

Östersunds Lucia Tradition

Every December Östersund, as well as all other towns in Sweden, hold a type of beauty contest- and the chosen girl becomes Lucia for the town. There are dinners and interviews and the candidates have their pictures as well as a description put in the paper for the town to vote.

Early in the morning on December 13th (about 6:30) she and her train of attendants move throughout the town, singing christmas carrols and traditional swedish lucia songs. Glögg and pepperkokas (ginger cookies)are consumed here. Glögg is warm wine with spices added to it- tradition says that in days gone by, the locals put spices in the old red wine to hide the vinegar flavour so they could still consume it. Raisons and nuts are put in aswell. I found the glögg alittle too strong in the spices.

Tradition is, in each family one of the girls takes on the role of Lucia and gets up before everyone else, dawns on the outfit and serves glögg and cookies to everyone in bed.

That morning I went with Lina and her mom to see Erik sing in a school Lucia show. Erik is Lina's younger brother (who is 11). It was very good.

Unfortunately none of my pictures turned out due to lack of light, so the pictures posted are from the internet.