Playing Elf

I used to like wrapping gifts.  I took great pride in my perfect corners, my flawless origami folds, the precision with which I tied my bows.  That was two hours ago.  Now, I swear, my spine may be permanently curved from bending over toys and the like creating perfect corners and flawless origami folds.  I guess it will be a good posture to have for the unwrapping to come in a couple of days, though, right? 

When In The Presence Of Music

After work today, The Swede and I headed to the mall to complete our Christmas shopping.  I was browsing around H&M when The Swede, who had been waiting outside, came up and took a pile of clothes out of my hands and ordered me outside.  "Just follow the sound," he said.  "It will be worth it."  He was right.  There was a small choir of teenagers singing Christmas carols and they were wonderful.  They literally brought a tear to my eye as I stood and enjoyed their sound and missed my choir days from college.  And I hoped they realized how special it was, what they were doing, and that they touched at least one person today.

My Every Whim

The Swede and I had spent a lazy day indoors sleeping in, reading, wrapping Christmas presents and catching up on The Amazing Race while the snow came down outside.  The roadblock on The Amazing Race's Hong Kong leg featured a huge buffet of Chinese food which contestants had to eat through in order to find a few fake pieces of food.  Half of them became sick, but all of me HAD to have Chinese food STAT.  The Swede, being both an accommodating fellow and the World's Greatest Fiancé, agreed to indulge my craving even though it was total snökaos outside.  (Watch that video and try to tell me you don't want a dachsund for Christmas.)  Hours of trekking through the blizzard later, we returned home with miraculously-still-warm curry and sweet and sour chicken that I enjoyed precisely as much as I thought I would.

American Night at Gurra and Gunilla's

A couple of months ago The Swede and I gave family friend Gurra the book Jamie's America for his 50th birthday so last night he and Gunilla invited us over for an American-themed dinner.  They served Budweiser, Candied Bacon Green Salad, giant Rocky Mountain oyster-inspired meatballs and homemade peach ice cream.  Everything was divine, and even though I'd never actually had any of these dishes before back home, I have to say that they all tasted distinctly American.  And there's nothing at all wrong with that.

All is Calm, All is Bright

I took a little walk down in central Sundbyberg tonight and came upon this tree stand in the town square.  Christmas music was playing and the snow was coming down and it was beautiful, but deserted except for the young salesman.  Now, usually I try to take photos of people as stealthily as possible so as not to creep anyone out too much with my blogging, but this time I failed hugely.  When he saw me standing there, camera in hand, he asked if he should move out of the frame.  I said no, so he turned around and skulked around the area while I took my shot.  Awkward.  I walked away feeling sorry that I had made him feel weird but even more sorry that he had to stand out there all alone in the cold.  Then, after a couple more minutes of walking, I realized how nice he had it because the stillness of the night was heaven and even I didn't want to go back inside.

And I'm Not Sharing

Yesterday I got a Christmas package in the mail from Selah!  It was chock-full of wrapped goodies, an annual update and photo from her family and PEPPERMINT BARK.  Dudes.  I looooooove peppermint bark.  It's one of those things you forget about, though, since it's only around this time of year so the surprise was half of the beauty of receiving it.  I suppose it wouldn't be that difficult to make, but I imagine Selah's is so much better than mine would ever be, so once a year will have to suffice.  I brought it to the office with me today because I couldn't bear to say good-bye to it heading out the door this morning.   

London Holiday

What kind of inconsiderate blogger am I, really?  Disappearing for four days, no warning, no explanation.  Shameful behavior, I know.  Can I make amends?  If I shared a ton of photos from the past weekend's trip to London, would that help?  Let's give it a go, shall we?

We flew in to Heathrow super late on Thursday night with Mama and Papa Swede and were picked up at the airport by The Swede's cousin Annemor, who we stayed with the whole weekend.  Okay, so it wasn't necessarily warm in London, but it was significantly nicer than in Stockholm.  The bush in front of Annemor's house was in bloom, for crying out loud! 

 I given this some thought and I've determined that British food is jacked.

 Of course we all broke out in a certain ABBA number when we reached Waterloo station.

 Too bad I was too full of fried pub food to accommodate any of this beautiful fruit.

 Big Tottenham fan at Tottenham Court Road.

 The holiday decorations at Selfridges were breathtaking.

 Annemor and The Swede look left, look right.

We did a lot of shopping.  As did many, many others.

Some of the stops on the shopping trips were extra fun. 

It was a grand time and we look forward to going back ASAP. 

New Obsession

I've always liked Subway.  Oh, except for that one in Minnesota that we hit up on our roadtrip this summer.  That one was gross.  Lately, though, I'm a little bit in love.  I love those veggies, that chipotle southwest sauce, those sandwich artists who never judge me on my poor Swedish.  This one is at the mall just short trip from our office, so it's convenient and inexpensive and yeah, I'm gonna say it, it's fresh.  Can't wait for tuna Friday.

Infinity

One of my colleagues dragged a box of Christmas decorations out of storage last week and urged us to take what we wanted for our cubicles.  Naturally I chose the biggest adventsljustake in the box, one that barely fit in the windowframe.  Everybody on the job better recognize my Christmas spirit. 

Care Central

I felt terrible this morning and decided to take the day off of work, hoping, of course, that the company could somehow manage go on without me.  And since it was my first sick day here, I thought it seemed like an appropriate day to introduce healthcare in Sweden.  This is our local vårdcentral, the medical building that those of us who live in Sundbyberg visit when we have any kind of non-emergency medical issue that happens to occur during regular business hours.  That covers a lot, I'd say, and in the few times that I've been they've been extremely efficient and helpful and best of all, practically free.  One thing that might bother some, though, is that you may never see the same provider twice.  You can't choose your doctor, nurse or midwife;  you get who you get.  I don't mind, though.  Just keep me alive and I'm satisfied.  So far so good.

Revelation

Follow this link to find out what rocked my world today.

Taste Of Home

The Swede and I just got back from our usual grocery store where we discovered for the very first time a tiny, hidden shelf in the foreign food aisle with the most random selection of American foods I can imagine.  Nacho cheese sauce, root beer, maple syrup, Butterfingers and Hunt's spaghetti sauce, among other American treats.  I was able to resist everything except the Hunt's, which is, I daresay, America's chintziest spaghetti sauce, but which sounded totally amazing to me.  And I was right.  It was the most familiar, delicious thing I've eaten in ages.     

Frosted

As dreadfully frigid as it is today - 18 degrees Farenheit, to be exact - it is equally stunning.  Not a surface has been untouched by Jack Frost and it has left the world around us a sparkling white wonderland.  I imagine a scene like this would make all my friends who are yearning for snow via their Facebook statuses just a little bit jealous.  (The link is for you, Selah.)

24 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall

Christmas is in full swing over at Mama and Papa Swede's, replete with candles, Santas, seasonal window treatments and even snowman toilet paper.  They don't play around over there.  We had dinner there tonight and got to witness the 2010 debut of one of their annual traditions: Papa Swede's daily beer countdown to the Christmas.  Perfect that there are 24 beers in a case, right?

Wildcat

The kitties got a new toy yesterday.  It's a feathery stuffed bird on an elastic string that hangs from the doorframe and it made Nelson go totally nutso.  It's a good thing they invented digital cameras because otherwise I would have just wasted an entire roll of film on this scene.

Hazy Shade of Winter

After we dropped Becca off at the airport this morning, The Swede and I came home, changed into our comfy pants and lazed around for the rest of the day.  I don't know how I can be so tired considering we went to bed at a reasonable hour all week (excluding the cruise) and slept in ridiculously late most of the time, but chillaxing felt like the appropriate thing to do anyway, what with the snow still coming down and the early sunset and all.  Just adding to the lazy coziness of the whole experience were the blazing stars from almost all of our neighbors windows as it is finally Advent and Sweden is aglow.

Becca's Visit Day Five & Six

Friday evening we surprised Becca with a overnight cruise to Finland on the Galaxy.  It was her first time on a cruise boat, so it was fun to see her get excited about passing the snowy Stockholm archipelago and nervous about how much the boat rocks despite its enormous size.  It was a grand time, but I'm making a note to self not to visit the Vasa Museum right before I take someone on their first big boat trip. 

Becca's Visit Day Four

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Becca and I spent the day grocery shopping and putting together our dinner of baked chicken, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green bean casserole, mac and cheese and pumpkin pie.  Becca brought many of more exotic items from the States, which was fabulous because it had been a whole two years since I've been in the same room as stuffing so I was in Stove Top-smelling paradise today.  The snow continued to come down as we shared our masterpiece of a meal with The Swede when he got home from work.  Now the sink is full of dishes but we're all passing out so they can wait till tomorrow.  Sorry, Mom.  I did make the bed today, though!

Becca's Visit Day Three

It was back into the city today and, dudes, it was totally Siberian.  You know I would never exaggerate, right?  Trust me, then, when I say that it was a blizzard out there and the two of us braved it like a couple of polar bears strolling the streets of Stockholm.  We did some shopping, ate lunch at Kungshallen, visited the Vasa Museum and the Nordic Museum and shopped some more.  Becca wanted to take a photo pause at this spot at the harbor, but I'm not even close to interested in any place that forbids hot dogs and ice cream.  

Becca's Visit Day Two

Our case of jetlag was apparently acute because Becca and I both slept in until after noon, despite going to bed shortly after nine.  By the time we got out of the house, onto the train and into town, most of the daylight was gone.  No problem, though, as Stockholm is just as lovely in the dark.  We popped into dozens of souvenir boutiques in Gamla Stan, contemplating a Dalahäst purchase at every stop, sampled pastries, moose and reindeer sausage, and waffles at the Christmas market, and visited the Nobel Museum.  It was the coldest, windiest day I've experienced in a very long time, but also one of the coziest.