Daily Jamie

Two Thousand Twelve

Another wonderful year has come and gone. It's true what they say, that time passes more quickly the older you get and even more so when you're watching a child grow before your very eyes. Two thousand twelve flew by and here we are again at the Daily Damara annual year in review.

We started off the year with a bang, taking a vacation to the Canary Island of Tenerife in January.

January was also the month when Jamie turned six months old!

In February we headed to the slopes for a ski weekend with a big group of friends and their kids.

We had so much fun that we headed back in March to do it up again, Segersten-style.

Back in the city later that month, Sarianne and I got glam at an event for bloggers.

It warmed up already in April so we got to enjoy an especially nice Valborg.

 

May was amazing as Mom and Ray came to visit!

I also met the most fantastic lady that month. Erin and I soon became inseparable.

In June we headed to the cabin to celebrate Midsummer in the country, the way it ought to be.

July was also major. We had a party for Jamie's first birthday then headed to America the next day. It was an incredible vacation, and we got to see lots of people we love.

And speaking of love, in August, while we were in the States, Selah got married!!!

Then, in September, my glamorous maternal lifestyle took a turn toward the professional when I went back to work.

In October Sarianne thought she was being very nice and generous when she invited me to a luxury spa weekend that turned out to be a two-day fast.

I turned thirty in November and we celebrated with a big party that I will never forget.

December has also been a lot of fun. It started with a visit from Kate!

Then The Swede took me on an amazing surprise date...

... and we got to see Jamie's first Lucia, the sweetest thing ever.

And now it's almost over. I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year! Catch you in 2013!

Daily Jamie

A Holiday Must

Christmas and Easter has its own special soda over here. Well, two, actually. It's the same soda, but around Easter it's called Påskmust (Easter juice, I guess) and around Christmas it's Julmust. I'm not a huge fan, probably because I didn't grow up swilling it like all these Swedes; it's a little like Dr. Pepper with kind of fruity. It's not sold any other time of the year and, indeed, I believe it's so deeply discounted today because it's last day of relevance this year was six whole days ago.

Daily Jamie

Impatience

I swear, on Christmas afternoon I am done with winter. I realize that there are three, maybe four months left but all I want is spring. I am apparently not alone as H&M and Ellos's spring catalogs arrived in the mail yesterday to help put me in the mood. I'm going to fight the urge to place an order at this point but I'm sure going to dog-ear the heck out of them.

Daily Jamie

Breaking The Fever

See, I told you we'd do something today! We totally left the house and everything. Jambo had cabin fever like what and had taken to bouncing his new toys off the wall of our home so we decided to take him someplace where he could do less damage. Obviously we weren't the only family who had worn out our sofas this week as the play land was packed. We all got out some excess energy and left with a renewed appreciation of home sweet home.

Daily Jamie

Laying Low

The truth is, we haven't done a single thing in the last forty-eight hours. Not. A. Thing. It makes for boring blogging, my friends, I realize that, so I'll try to make something happen tomorrow. Wish me luck; I'm kind of enjoying this laziness.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

"Santa?"

Small Pleasures, Big Pleasure

Swedish Jul was over and done with last night but the Segersten family stopped by in their way home to Söderköping this morning to dig into their Christmas stockings. I had filled them with silly things - candy, of course, and small toys and fun band-aids and pens and the like - and they seemed to be satisfied but really, obviously, this was all for me. I mean, I would have done just about anything to have seen this scene.

Daily Jamie

Christmas Eve On Ekhammarsvägen

The Beginning Of Christmas

It's the night before the night before Christmas, which means that tomorrow is the big day over here. We've had a delicious turkey dinner courtesy of Mama Swede and are trying not to think about all the presents under the tree. Excitement is in the air, folks, and I'm about to pull a move I've been working on for nearly thirty Christmases: go to bed early so tomorrow can get here.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Last Minute

Today was the first day of our sixteen day stretch off of work and school. Can you imagine? We have no plans and may just end up bumming around the house for a couple of weeks but decided at least to pop out this afternoon and watch the last minute shoppers freaking out. We, of course, are done with our Christmas shopping so we could make a leisurely stop in to the golf store and take a couple practice swings. We were actually surprised that there didn't seem to be too much panic going on out there after all, which is good because it was snowing and the roads were bad and everyone ought to have been at home anyway.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

New Tradition

Sometimes I feel just really outta the loop over here. Like, Peeps, for example. They're a Christmas treat now, too? This is obviously major so thank goodness Mom and Ray kept me in the loop by sending these in our Christmas package. Of course, now that I know about them I'm going to have to have them every Christmas so I hope they're prepared for what they've just committed to.

Happy Holidays From The Family Swede!!!

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Stuffing Stockings

Now that Jamie is old enough to get that Christmas is fun (see Daily Jamie above) I've decided to introduce the American tradition of stockings. Mom sent stockings for all of us last year (cats included 'cause she's a nut) but I never actually put anything in them. One of my very favorite parts of Christmas, if not my very favorite, in fact, was when my parents let my brother and sister and I open our stockings basically in the middle of the night to get us to stop pestering them so that they could sleep longer. I want Jamie to have a taste of that and since Christmas day is just any other day here, I thought I'd spice it up a bit by making stockings for Jamie, Julia, and Elin to open up on Christmas morning. I think I'll skip the cats again this year, though.