Jul Jul!

Lowdown on the Christmas break in Sweden:

Saturday 23^rd

Happy Birthday Sharon!

Up at 3am, no sleep for me… Cab arrived at 4am. Still foggy as anything… Luckily Stansted wasn’t as affected as the other airports… … Got to Stansted by 4.45am. Arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes late… Veeery close to missing our train to Kalmar… Too close for comfort but we made it! Got picked up by Karro, Ems and Daniel, headed straight for Kullzenska café. (Ankis missed her train from Stockholm so couldn’t make it).Yummy coffee and cakes! Mmm! On the way there Col lost just about all the wheels on the suitcase. So funny, had this guy running behind us saying “your wheels! Excuse me!!!” (first time in Swedish and when the next wheel fell he swapped to English and laughed a lot! So did we! Madness!) Bumped into my old classmate Mattias too, haven’t seen him for yonks! This is what I love about being at home for Christmas! Then home for food and Lussekatter (baking baking!). Slept all three in Karro’s bed! Luckily it’s big enough!

Christmas Eve

No snow!!! So sad! Not that Christmasy… Decorated the tree. Dad had bought a dodgy one so we had to do our best!It turned out pretty good in the end! Went to church, sang some songs, then home for cooking. Joakim popped by, nice to see him. Watched Kalle Anka och hans Vanner firar Jul (Col might understand us Swedes a wee bit more now..) Mum and Stig arrived at 5, had lovely meal (almost forgot the ham!heheh!). Got so stuffed, mmmm! Johan was Santa this year, got lots of lovely pressies, biggest surprise was Trolltyg I tomteskogen from Emsen, how she manages to get hold of these unobtainable films I do not know! Lisa arrived in the evening, everyone seemed tired by then!

Thanks for all my lovely presents people!

Christmas Day

No pressies today for Colly, poor thing! Luckily there were loads of leftovers to distract him J Went for a lovely walk down to the sea, the weather was gorgeous, cold but sooo sunny! Beautiful! In the afternoon we went to see Johan and Lisa’s new house with Dad. Wow! It’s a cool house! Massive! Lots of work to be done, but that’s part of the process isn’t it?! Waited to go to a party in the evening, but Emsen was soooo poorly so we skipped it.

Boxing Day

Shopping all day with Karro! Bought lots of sweets and ate them all! Pick and mix Sweden style is the best!

Wednesday 27^th

Fika with Emsen and Ankis (before she took off to London). Really nice time, nice to hang out with the lassies. Wandered the town with Emsen, then got take away from Ming, headed to Ems house, watched the last episode of Firefly, then Serenity the film, followed by Rocky Horror Picture show! Coooool!!! Daniel joined us too. Headed to Karro’s afterwards with some food, she’s ill and doesn’t make herself food at the best of times! Icy on the roads when we drove home.

Thursday 28^th

Freezing!!! Frosty everywhere! Pretty! Met up with Karro and went to Ikea for some coffee (and shopping for Karro) and moooore cakes!

Friday 29^th

Went to see Johan and Lisa for a while at the house, we brought coffee and cakes which was much appreciated. Headed on to Jenny’s after that. Got to meet little Isaak this time too! Must be the most smiley baby I’ve ever seen! He just smiled and smiled and smiled! And poked his tongue out! Ebba was so cute too! Little shy but so grown up! Lovely to see Jenny and Fredrik too of course! They’ve finished the main bathroom now – woooooow! So nice! I want one of those baths too! Had nice nosh and chats then time to head home again. Johan and Lisa paid us a visit in the evening, more chatting, think we’re loosing our voices! Matty arrived in Sweden in the evening, just to spend the night at the airport J

Saturday 30^th

Went into town around lunchtime, had coffee (& cake) with Virre and Jannica. Karro came too! Glad we got a chance to catch up with them as V is off to New Zealand at the end of next month! I’m so jealous! I wanna go toooooooo! Love that place! Had a quick walk around town too, I picked up some cups (good for Glogg and coffe) from Werner&Werner, bought some food too. Then it was time to collect Matty from the station! Headed off to Karro’s for some food, then home for fika with Dad. Took it easy in the evening as Matty was shattered from no sleep! I tried to make a pie for the New Year’s Eve Posh Dinner we had been invited to, but managed to drop it when it was almost done! Did I loose it or what! I was mad like hell! Poor Col and Matty! Played a bit of TP in Swedish too, the lads did well! Funny!

New Year’s Eve

Up early. We were gonna go for a walk but it was raining outside. Drove to Sandby, then down to the coast where we did get out and walked a little. Damn it was cold and windy! Matty got soaked whilst trying to wade through a small lake! He’s mad! Hahhah! We laughed a lot though! Dad made us some lunch, then we headed to Johan’s. He gave us a lift to town, where we met up with Karro, Virre, Jannica, Louise and Annelie and went down to the castle to watch the firework display! It was actually really great! I don’t normally like that kind of thing that much but it was cool! Drank a bit of Glogg supplied by the Hovenas’s, yum yum! Then home to get changed! I had to borrow clothes from Karro! Headed off to Louise’s, had loooovely food and drink! The menu was

Crayfish tail soup / Asparagus soup

File of Beef in Red wine sauce with Potato Gratin

Roccola/Sundried tomato and Cheese pie

Cheesecake with raspberries and blueberries (with Ginger snaps, yum!)

Trifle (bit of a letdown, will learn how to make this properly for next time!)

Finished off with a glass of Baileys

Mmmm! Got soooo stuffed!

Had lots of drinks then headed off to Karro’s for Sparkling wine at Midnight and some fireworks by Mikael. Had the best toasting session ever, think Col, Matty and myself toasted every living thing and all the foods of the world! (Especially Marmite I think!) Headed into town and Ernesto’s. Had a pretty cool time! Lots of dancing until my feet were so sore that we had to go home! Luckily Johan and Lisa were on their way too and picked us up from the library! Col and Matty had to carry me there though! Poor poor feet… Damn those shoes! But they’re pretty… Ohhh… Sat and chatted for a few hours then bed!

New Year’s Day

Oooohhhhh…. My poor head…. Up at 8, woke Karro up as we still had stuff at her place. Picked them up on the way to the station. Bless the Numo’s for taking us J Just made the train in time. Had a nice trip to Copenhagen, just chilled out. Had the best hangover cure at the airport – Danish pastries and tea! What a treat! Repacked the bags, turned out we had lots of alcohol in one bag that Karro gave us! Ooops! Managed to fit it all in. Got the flight alright, bit of a shaky start, were 20 minutes early in London. Took us 3 hours from Stansted and home…. Arrrggh! Soooo tired by then! When I rang home Dad and Karro said there had been a proper storm in southern Sweden and Denmark… We were lucky to make it home! Watched a bit of Monty Python, had some pasta, then collapsed in bed. Nice to sleep in our flat again!

Tuesday 2^nd

Chill out day! Did some food shopping, nothing much else! Watched This Life 10 years on… Wow!!! Sooo cool to see the old gang again! They were all the same, just a little older and a little more bitter! Bit weird! There was a short interview afterwards and they said the next one will be when they’re in their 70s!! Heheh!

I had a call about a job, have got an interview on Tuesday! Cool!

Wednesday 3^rd

Happy Birthday Ebba and Henni!

Lots of sorting out today, the house seem in a bit more of an order now! Oh, Pepe called!!! Great to chat to him! It’s been to long!!

Chatted to Emsen too, such a shame we didn’t get to hang out a bit more in Sweden, but she might be coming to London in the spring! Wooohooo!