White Christmas

 

Christmas Eve is the main day of Christmas celebrations in Sweden - as in the day when Christmas presents are exchanged and opened. And in families with children, Jultomten (Santa Claus/Father Christmas) often comes knocking on the door in the late afternoon or early evening, to deliver them in person.  

What I had not expected this year was a White Christmas - except maybe just a very thin layer of frost on the ground. But I was in for a surprise this morning, when I got out bed and looked out of the window to find that it had snowed during the night. And it has kept on snowing a little on and off since then (writing this around 11:30 am).

I'll neither be going anywhere, nor having visitors; but as usual in later years I'm hoping to have an online video session with my brother later on in the afternoon. (I'm saying "hoping", fingers crossed, because the app we used to use has closed, so we'll be trying a different alternative this year - without having tested it beforehand...)

Tomorrow I may be catching up on blog reading and commenting while most of my international friends are in turn probably in the midst of their most intense family celebrations... Anyway, however you'll be celebrating, I wish you all a Happy Christmas!

The Sun Is Back!

When I first woke up this morning, the sun wasn't up yet, so not much use even looking out of the windows. I was also tired, so went back to bed and my audio book... And fell asleep again... Next time I got up, and looked out of the window, I could hardly believe my eyes. Instead of the usual grey that has been hovering over us all December so far, there was blue sky, fluffy white clouds, sunshine - and frost on the ground! Quite an impressive winter solstice transformation since yesterday!

 

 Best to make use of the sunshine while it lasts! I thought; so around 11:30 I set out for a walk to get the most out of the daylight. 

Although the sun is "back", it still doesn't go very high over the horizon even at noon... 

The fact that the sun was showing its face inspired me to expand my walk beyond the old cemetery. One thing I cannot order with the home deliveries from my usual supermarket is flowers. (They sell flowers in the store, but not online.) And the nearest florist's is downtown in the city centre - still too far for me to walk to (considering that if I do, I also have to walk back home). So I've had no red poinsettias or amaryllis etc at home to brighten up the gloomy first three weeks of December. 

However, today it struck me that about half way between home and the city centre, there is nowadays (since some time back in early autumn, if memory serves me right) a Lidl grocery store. So far I've only been in there once, shortly after they opened. But now I checked their ads online, and it did indeed seem like they might have some seasonal flowers. So that's where I steered my steps today. 

And I found what I sought. I bought one large and one small poinsettia, and also an amaryllis - still just a bud, but showing signs of perhaps even producing a second one later on. (They had taller ones, but those would have been difficult for me to carry home - as I was using two walking poles, I had to choose flowers that I could fit into my backpack...)

 

4th Advent Sunday / Winter Solstice

 

4th Advent Sunday today - and also the Winter Solstice. 

As I've mentioned before, the month of December so far has been unusually dark here this year - or at least so it has seemed. Yesterday I heard some additional statistics on the radio: In our capital Stockholm, it has been the darkest December since1934. So it has also very probably been the darkest month that I myself (born in 1955) have ever experienced! (Even if I don't live in Stockholm, but closer to the west coast.) 

Anyway, with the Winter Solstice behind us, even if still cloudy, we should now at least be able to look forward to a gradually increasing amount of daylight again!

I decided to celebrate the Winter Solstice with decorating my little Christmas tree...

... and by waking up the ten Santas sleeping in the tiny house on my kitchen window sill. Someone wondered on a previous post how they all fit in there, and if there was magic involved. My answer is that the magic lies in the camera perspective...

 

Kitchen Gnomes (Part 2)

 

On the small wooden corner shelf in my kitchen you'll find my wooden gnomes. (The other items are there all year round.) The shelf itself belonged to my paternal grandmother, and once upon a time used to sit in her kitchen. 

The wooden house (a model of a kind of storehouse that used to be common in the north of Sweden) comes from my mum's side of the family (my maternal grandfather was from "up north") - and so does the little carved dog. The boat-like thing next to the house is a souvenir bought on a family trip up north in my early teens - a wooden cup, a traditional Sami kind of item. The little ceramic deer and the "nutty" squirrel were presents from friends some time in the past; and the little grey gnome I think was originally part of some Christmas flower arrangement. 

The two gnomes to the left on the middle shelf I remember buying when visiting a Christmas market in a friend's church back in my upper teens. And the grey one on the same shelf was a Christmas gift from a Swedish penfriend some 20+ years ago. 

A random collection of things, but with one thing in common: 
They're all bearers of memories of family and friends.

The Kitchen Gnomes (Part 1)

 

I feel that I must have told this story before, but I can't find evidence  of it now. (It may have been many years ago.) 

I had a period in my youth when I more or less banned gnomes of all kind from the Christmas decorations in my own home. But then for quite a few years I had a friend and neighbour with whom I used to exchange the service of watering each others' plants when the other was away on holidays. Her apartment, in contrast to mine, was always full of gnomes at Christmas time. So we were both well aware of our different "taste" when it came to decorations. 

Then one year she left a little parcel for me, which turned out to contain a tealight candle holder surrounded by five little gnomes - accompanied by a message that these gnomes were "seeking asylum" with me... Ah well... Put like that, how could I refuse... 

Next time it was my turn to water her plants at Christmas time, I had happened to find (in some shop) a "toothpick" pack with tiny Santa figures on them. (Probably meant to be used to decorate food served for Christmas.) So I planted those tiny Santas here and there, in flower pots or where else I could think of, around my friend's flat...

Over a number of years afterwards, around Christmas time, those tiny Santas then kept wandering back and forth between our flats... Sometimes most of them were at my place, sometimes at hers.

Photo from 2015

When I moved to my present apartment in 2008, the majority of them happened to be hibernating in my box of Christmas decorations... And as since then, that friend and I have no longer been watering each other's plants, those ten tiny gnomes have remained staying with me. Well - in my basement storage room 11 months of the year... But invading my kitchen window sill for a few weeks every year around Christmas...

Ssshh - they're still asleep in the Santa House... 
But I might wake them up for 4th Advent Sunday!

Gnome on the Stone, and Elf on the Shelf

 Today was another grey day, but it wasn't raining, and I had nothing special "scheduled", so I decided to go for a walk around the cemetery around noon, to get the most out of the little daylight that there was. For the first time since my knee injury I walked all around the place - and then a bit extra. (All in all I was out for about 45 minutes - using both walking poles.)

And old ("returned") grave reused as flowerbed, with some plants that still add a bit of colour to this grey season. 
 

Hydrangea climbing on the old stone wall along one side of the cemetery.

The buds on the rhododendron bushes seem a bit too far gone for their own good as well (I made the same observation about some azaleas on my last walk there). Weather forecasts now indicate that temperatures will probably be dropping again next week, though...

From a distance, on a grave out in one of the "fields", I spotted something very bright red on top of a standing headstone. I couldn't quite make out if it really was what I thought it looked like - or perhaps just some red flowers giving me the illusion...? So I decided I had to go and have a closer look - and it was indeed something I don't think I've ever seen as grave decoration before: 

I decided to blur the name before posting the photo here, but (not surprisingly) the grave belongs to someone who died only 19 years old, and less than a decade ago. 

When I got back home, I got started on my own "final" Christmas decorations... (Got those boxes up from storage yesterday, which was also laundry day for me, so I had to make a few turns down to the basement anyway.)

I don't have a lot of gnomes and "santas", but I have a few, which are now up on their usual shelves etc around my flat. For example, the Santa family knitted by my mum...

 ... And as soon as they had settled in, Skipper came to visit them, and return the stray little yarn gnome doll which she has been looking after all autumn (ever since I found him under the sofa, where he must have been hiding since last winter)...

As reward for her faithful "babysitting", when back home on her own shelf again, Skipper got to decorate her and Barbie's own Christmas tree:

 

This one also lives in my living room. He was bought by myself some time in this century, because he reminded me of Dumbledore (from the Harry Potter books). Therefore he also gets the company of the two little owls...

I also have a few kitchen gnomes, but I'll save those for another post. 

The Sun Has Gone Away on Holiday

 "Sun so far in December"

The weather has been so extremely grey so far in December that Swedish Television has taken to show daily statistics of the number of hours of sunshine. Note that this (above) is not the number of hours per day, but for a period of 15 days... 

Over the past two weeks, our capital Stockholm on the east coast only had 30 minutes of sunshine altogether. Karlstad, situated on the north shore of Lake Vänern (and generally known as a town where the sun always shines) saw the sun for 2 hours and 18 minutes in total; while our 2nd largest city, Gothenburg (Göteborg) on the west coast, can brag about getting 3 hours and 48 minutes. (Borås, where I live, is only an hour inland from there, but I think our statistics would probably be closer to Stockholm's.)

Viewers can send in their own weather photos. The background above is not a blank screen, but a fog photo from Boden, far up in the north. 

Below, a silhouette photo from the province Hälsningland, in the middle of our oblong country. Beautiful, but kind of spooky - like an island appearing "out of nowhere"...

 

And as for the next couple of days - not much hope of improvement...
 

Muted Colours

It continues to be rather mild for December here - and wet, grey and gloomy. The photo above (from the cemetery) shows some azalea leaf buds in the foreground looking almost worringly green for the time of year. I hope they're not getting deceived to believe that there's spring in the air already! 

On Friday afternoon I managed a walk combining recycling with a visit to the one of our two small neighbourhood shops that also serves as "post office" (with limited service); to pick up a parcel (something I had ordered that was a little too big to fit in my own postbox), and to get my bunch of Swedish Christmas cards posted. 

Saturday and Sunday were so thoroughly wet, dark and dismal that I didn't set foot outside. I kind of went into half-hibernation, and can't recall that I "did" much indoors either... 

Monday today, and the sky still a very dense grey - but the rain stopped (at least for a while), allowing me a walk to the major post office down by the railway, to post a couple of large "parcel envelopes" (which I didn't want to entrust to the single postbox at the convenience store). The walk from here to there took me about 15 minutes, which is probably fairly normal (for me). On the way back, I took a detour into/around the cemetery, which prolonged the whole walk to 45 minutes all in all. 

It's been over two months now since I and fell and hurt my knee. It keeps getting better, and less swollen; but still not enough for me to dare try to walk all the way into town and back (which is what I'm really longing to be able to get back to). I don't go out without wearing a compression knee bandage, and using at least one walking pole for support (today I used both). I also wear a somewhat softer knee bandage (bamboo) all night.   

 A 'favourite' old house I passed on my walk back from the post office. (If you feel that you've probably seen it before - then you probably have!)

Lucia / St Lucy's Day, 13 December

Saint Lucy's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day observed on 13 December. The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-fourth-century virgin martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution. According to legend, she brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candle-lit wreath on her head to light her way, leaving both hands free to carry as much food as possible. 

Because her name means "light" and her feast day had at one time coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms, it is now widely celebrated as a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on 25 December, Christmas Day. 

In Scandinavia, where Lucy is called Santa/Sankta Lucia, she is represented as a woman in a white dress symbolizing a baptismal robe and a red sash symbolizing the blood of her martyrdom, with a crown or wreath of candles on her head.

In Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, as songs are sung, girls dressed as Saint Lucy carry cookies and saffron buns in procession, which symbolizes bringing the Light of Christ into the world's darkness. (Wikipedia)

 

Not sure if the video below will work for everyone world-wide, but I thought I'd give that a test. (Let me know if it works!) It's this year's (2025) Lucia Morning by Swedish Television (SVT); from Visby on the island Gotland, off the east coast of Sweden. 

It's a 1 hour show, and in Swedish. But of course you can choose for yourself how much of it to watch/listen to. It will give you an idea of the typical atmosphere, anyway.

"Inside the city walls of wintry Visby, this year’s Lucia brings atmosphere and warmth with choirs from Sankta Maria Youth Choir, Voices of Hope, and Gotland Boys’ Choir. In the ruins of St. Karin and Helge And, the Christmas songs ring out, and we also get to enjoy several soloists, the Gotland Wind Quintet, and a children’s choir in the historic surroundings."

    

https://youtu.be/QVc5rAzMQCs?si=toSBG8tjXE-Urfmg

Angels

 

It has become my tradition to put up my collection of Angels for St Lucy's Day (13th Dec), which this year falls on the Saturday before 3rd Advent Sunday. The glass angels in my living room; and the rest in the window of my study. 

 

 

I think I've mentioned before that all these angels have come to me as gifts from friends - I haven't actually bought any of them myself. The porcelain angel to the left is the only one that has been with me from early childhood; the rest have come flying in one by one much later in my life. 

 

 

This song is from one of the Christmas albums that I have on CD. 

Skywatch Friday

 

Actually it was on Wednesday rather than Friday this week that we "almost" got a glimpse of the sky behind the grey clouds and rain that have dominated the whole week. Not having been out at all for a few days, I grabbed the opportunity for a half hour walk for exercise.

I stopped for a while across the street from the building above, trying to figure out what's going on there. Seemed like some new business is moving into the premises, and doing some changes. Actually, one of the signs outside suggested that it's an old business moving back to the area where they once started out, thirty years ago. The name didn't ring a bell with me though, so no idea what kind of business. Nor do I know if they're moving back to the exact same building or just the same complex. Or what exactly all those triangular thingies in front are for...

As I had no errands and didn't need to carry anything, I took both my walking poles on this walk for a change - mostly just for the extra exercise (for arms/shoulders). We're still having very mild weather. No risk of icy spots just now - but the risk of slipping on a mess of wet leaves is not over...

Crossing the old cemetery on my way back home. 
(Imagine a constant background sound of leaf-blowers at work...)

I'll be linking to Skywatch Friday 

Winter Idyll vs Reality

 

This is a textile Christmas wall hanging that my mother made back in my childhood. I had to find a new place for it this year, because putting it up where I used to have it requires use of a stepladder + quite a bit of "fiddling" - which I don't feel up to this year. Luckily I managed to find an alternative space for it.

I used to have it on display at the top of the door leading into my study:

Photo from 2022

This year it hangs on the back of a bookshelf in the "dressing room" corner of my study, where it was easy to put it up without need of a ladder. The downside is that I don't see it from the living room, as I did when I had it on the door. But on the other hand, I can now get up close to it at eye level to look at details...

 (The combination study/dressing room may seem unusual, but it just so happens that most of my wardrobes are in this room, while I prefer another as bedroom.) 

 

In the "real world" outside my windows there's no snow to be seen. Since Saturday it's been raining more or less constantly - yesterday also combined with weather warnings for strong winds - and I've not been out any further than to the rubbish bins at the corner of the building a couple of times. (Luckily I also haven't really needed to go anywhere, though!) 

Macramé

 

Once upon a time, back in the late 1970s, I took an evening class in macramé. I think it was only one term (or possibly two). Combined with working as a secretary in the daytime, it turned out not the best leisure activity for my neck and shoulders. 

I can only recall making three bigger items - two wall hangings (besides this red one, one of similar size in some kind of silky brownish yarn), and a plant hanger. (The plant hanger I think I later gave to my mum who had a better place for it.)

The red wall hanging has become part of my Christmas decorations. From December until mid February or so, it hangs on the door between my hall and my kitchen. 

 

Macramé is a form of textile produced using knotting (rather than weaving or knitting) techniques. 

One of the earliest recorded uses of macramé-style knots as decoration appeared in the carvings of the Babylonians and Assyrians. 

 It was long crafted by sailors, especially in elaborate or ornamental knotting forms, to cover anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships. 

 In England, it was introduced at the court of Mary II in the late 17th century, and in the Victorian era it adorned most homes in items such as tablecloths, bedspreads and curtains.

Macramé's popularity faded, but resurged in the 1970s for making wall hangings, clothing accessories, draperies, plant hangers and other furnishings.

Source: Wikipedia 

 

Penpals

 

We're having a very grey and damp 2nd Advent weekend here in south-west Sweden. I managed to get out for about half an hour on Friday, but the rest of the weekend I've been staying in. 

Wondering what to blog about today, my eye fell on the three Christmas cards that have arrived so far, and which I have put on display in the bookshelf in my living room. They come from three different countries (England, Canada and the US); and all three are from Penfriends whom I've known since Before Blogging. 

I've had penfriends ever since I was 10-11 years old. I'm still in touch now and then with the very first one in Sweden. Few long letters these days, but we still always send Christmas greetings, and birthday cards. We first met through an ad in some comics magazine (I forget whether it was her ad or mine) way back in 1966 - i.e. 60 years ago next spring. We only met once in real life, I think in 1978 or 79. She lived (and still lives) further north in Sweden, and I had been up even further north than that to visit another friend, and going back down south by train, I also visited my penfriend for a couple of days. 

We both had several more penpals; and for a while, long before the internet, it was popular among letter-writing friends around the world to also pass around something called "friendship books", as one way of finding new people to write to. And I'm still in touch with some people around my own age abroad, whom I got to know that way.

One of them is Karen in England, who sent me the Christmas card with the London bus above. I just checked, and we've been penpals since 1985, i.e. 40 years. Fewer long letters exchanged these days, but always Christmas cards, and sometimes other postcards in between. We're also friends on FB; but she does not blog, and I doubt she reads mine. 

The Snowman card to the left above came from Heather in Canada. We met in person in Sweden in the summer of 1985, and have kept in touch by letters/cards on and off since then. (Nowadays mostly Christmas cards + FB.)

The other Snowman card is from Debra in the US (and came with a letter). I think she is probably the last one whom I got to know via one of those "friendship books" passed on via penpals - and also the last one with whom I am still in touch solely by snail mail, and not at all on the internet. Her first letter to me is from Sept 2000 - so 25 years by now.

As I have mentioned before a few times, in connection with various "blogoversaries", it was also a penpal in Australia (since 1985) who first inspired me to start blogging. She mentioned (Christmas 2008) that she had started a blog; and when I went to check that out, I found that to be able to  comment, I had to create a Blogger account of my own. And once I had done that, I got curious to explore further how it all worked... So ended up starting my own first blog in January 2009. And while R didn't keep hers going for all that long (it was mostly to do with a crafts project), I'm still blogging away! (R & I are still in touch, too, but now mostly via FB.)

Come to think of it, the chain of contacts leading to why I'm sitting here right now, writing this, can literally be traced back all the way to my very first Swedish penfriend  - because she was the link between me and a penfriend in England (nowadays living in Australia), who in turn became the link between me and the Australian penfriend who became my link to blogging!

2nd Advent Weekend

 

The white orchid in my bedroom window has opened up its first bloom for 2nd Advent.

 And on a small shelf on the wall in my study, I have set up this nativity scene as usual. 
(I see it "at the corner of my eye" wheneven I'm using my computer.)
 

The original set consisted only of the stable, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and thre three wise men. I have added the other other pieces later from different sources. The oldest one is the camel - I think I got that one in my early childhood from the same old ladies (cousins of my grandmother) who gave me the small nativity scene that I showed in a post last weekend. 

 

Matthew 2 (NIV)

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

- - -

 ⁹ ... and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. 

Busy Day/Week

 

I've managed to be quite "busy" lately. First it was the decorating for 1st Advent last week (cf my previous two posts). Then I spent quite a large part of the 1st Advent Sunday writing my Christmas cards to be sent abroad, as I wanted to get those posted on Monday. (Just now it feels like I've been writing about this already? - but I think that must have been as comment on someone else's blog.) Luckily I had enough cards with envelopes left over from previous years - and stamps too. 

So on Monday, I think around 11 am, I went for a walk to the nearest mailbox - which is situated by one of our small local grocery shops, about 10 minutes walk away. (Just now, perhaps more like 15 minutes.) It's one that only gets emptied on weekday mornings - but when I put mine in, I could hear that the box wasn't empty, but probably about half full. So hopefully my cards got sent on their way the same day. I know that the cards within Europe are likely to reach their destinations in just a few days - but sending mail "overseas" is more of a gamble...

That mission accomplished, I went back home and continued to write my cards to be sent within Sweden - which will all be of simple postcard format this year, as that was what I had left in my stash... I won't need to post those for another week or so; but just as well to get them written while I was "in the mood". 

Tuesday was laundry day (afternoon) for me, plus cleaning the bathroom. A combination that tends to keep me busy enough without adding very much else to the mix.  Between my turns down to the basement I usually just watch TV or read.

Today, Wednesday, was set aside for bigger adventures. After having put off an appointment with my dental hygienist twice in November (and some other errands in town as well) - because of my knee making it difficult for me to get anywhere - I decided it was time to test my stamina to "be on my feet" for a while. Not to overdo things, I decided I had better take a taxi to the dentists' to start with, though. From "knee point of view", that was probably a good decision; but it was still another taxi adventure in the sense that most  streets in the city centre are either car-free or one-way - and the driver, speaking broken Swedish, also didn't seem to actually know exactly where the street was (so I had to try to explain!)... In a wide roundabout way he finally did get me there, though! 

The actual appointment with my dental hygienist went smoothly, though. No unpleasant surprises, just routine treatment. 

Not many steps from my dentists' to the main square, where I stopped to take a photo of the big Christmas tree:   

 

 My next errand was to my favourite Tea Shop, situated right by the square. (They also sell coffee, but I only drink tea.) Not having been into the city centre for a couple of months now, nearly all my tea caddies at home were empty! So I made both a shop assistant and myself happy by buying no less than six different kinds of tea (100 g of each). (Three black tea blends, one green tea Christmas blend, and two different Rooibos tea blends.)

Just round the next corner, there's the bookshop; and I made a short stop there too, to buy a pocket calendar - and some more Christmas cards, "just in case" (or else for use next year!).

On the same street is my favourite Pharmacy, and I had a loooong list of both prescription medicines and various other stuff that I have been running out of (or almost) over the past couple of months... So that took a while; but now I have stocked up prescription stuff to last me a couple of months at least, plus some other necessities/favourites as well.

So far, so good... Now remained the question of how to get myself (and all my stuff) home. When I made my plans, it had seemed a good idea to take a certain bus from a small square not very far from the pharmacy. It doesn't run all the way to where I live - but then no bus does. But this one would take me to a stop some 15 minutes walk from home; and as I walked that distance back and forth the other week, I counted on being able to manage that. 

What I had not counted on, though, was having to wait nearly half an hour for that bus - because not only had one just left when I arrived at the bus square, but then the next one turned out to be almost 15 minutes late, and over-full (and with a super-stressed driver shouting at everyone!)  However, while waiting I managed to find a bench in a bus shelter to sit on - and then, even more miracously, also a seat on the bus when it finally arrived... (The fact that I was heavily burdened + leaning on a stick may have helped, but I'm not sure!!)  I rode on that bus for two stops, and somehow also managed to get off unharmed (phew!)... And in spite of being rather tired by then, the last 20 minutes walk from that bus stop back home felt almost like a relief compared to the long wait + short bus ride... (In retrospect I'm thinking that "knee and all" it might have been quicker for me to walk the whole way back home from town - but I just didn't quite trust my stamina for that, with a full backpack + an extra bag to carry as well.)  

Anyway, next time I go into town, I don't think I'll try that particular bus again... 

The next thing on my "list" is that I really need a haircut... My hairdresser is in the same street as my dentist - but it just felt too much to try and coordinate that + all the other things on one and the same day.