Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is the main day of Christmas celebrations in Sweden. That's also when 'Santa' (Jultomten) comes knocking on the door here... (well, at least where there are children...) (As we're rather close to the North Pole, I guess it's only logical that he stops by here first, before he goes on to drop things down chimneys in other countries...) 

Yesterday, I woke up to find a much nicer day outside than expected: Bleak sun shining, a very thin layer of powder snow on the ground, trees white with frost again, and temperature hovering around -5°C (~23°F). As I also woke up fairly early, I decided to walk into town and resume my (sometimes) tradition of attending a short 'nativity' service in the old 17th century church there, at 11 am. The time suits me well when spending Christmas on my own (and if it's also a nice day for a walk). Now I hadn't been since 2019, though, because of the you-know-what...

It's a short service with focus on the (Sunday school) children. Some traditional hymns and songs are sung, the nativity story from the Gospel of Luke is read - and then re-told again in simpler words for the children, who then also get to sit up front by the church's nativity set, and also get to help place the figures in the crib. 

I did not go up front afterwards to have a closer look at the crib this year, but I did in 2019, so here is that photo again:

 

On my way back home, I took a little detour along the river in the city centre. It was a perfectly still and frosty day. (Icy streets, but I had my studded winter boots on, and had also brought one of my walking poles for extra safety in tricky places.)

Looking back at the church I had been to.

 Looking in the other direction

 Walking along the river, on the opposite side from the city park, with the temporary art exhibition that I've also showed from other angles in a couple of earlier posts.

 

You can see the sun is very low here this time of year, even around noon!

My own nativity set at home. It sits on a shelf in my study.

Angelic choir singing on the window sill, also in my study. They're all gifts from friends. The second from the left I've had since early childhood, the others have come along one by one in later decades...

In the afternoon, I had a Skype video chat with my brother, as has also become a tradition (even before the pandemic) when we don't meet in person at Christmas. 

Today, back to grey and slushy weather, which I'll take as an excuse to just be lazy and stay in and read and watch old favourites on TV/DVD etc. 

Happy Christmas to all friends around the world, however you're celebrating (or not)!