Sweden {Christmas & Our Last Few Days}

Our last few days in Sweden were spent gathering souvenirs and C's favorite foods to bring back to the US, visiting with one of his best friends from childhood, and spending time at the farm looking through old photos and providing tech support to his parents.  Christmas Day was not a big deal there but we did get out for a foggy, icy walk and managed to stream a favorite Christmas episode of Friends that made me so happy :)  For our last night in Sweden Maggie cooked us moose steak for dinner then we headed off to the train station in the early morning hours of 12/28 on the long journey back to Copenhagen and eventually Seattle.  Thanks for having us, Maggie and Anders - until next time! :)

a foggy christmas walk

baby christian

so much cheese in a tube

deer in the yard

moose steak

beers before our long flight

the same smørrebrød from the last trip home

an icy airport in iceland

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Sweden {Christmas Eve}

We woke up on Christmas Eve to a beautiful and sunny {although quite cold} day.  Christmas Eve is the day most of Sweden really celebrates the holiday so I was ready for a day of new traditions.  We bundled up to go for a nice sunny walk around the neighborhood, stopping to take pics of all of the frost and low sunshine.  Back at home we helped with the final preparations for the Christmas Eve feast, then ate it all quickly to get ready for the 3pm showing {across the country} of the Donald Duck {Kalle Anka} Christmas special, a collection of scenes from a bunch of Disney movies {of course the Cinderella scene was my favorite} that the entire country stops what they are doing to watch.  I ended the day FaceTiming with my favorite little guys back home then enjoyed some glögg and wine while playing old games Christian found in his closet before calling it a night!

homemade pickled herring

plate #1

plate #2

jack was so excited to show me the rudolph that santa brought him

late night snack of shrimp salad and chips

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Sweden {Glöggfest & Värnamo}

Thursday morning we woke up to no more snow {crazy how quickly it all went away!} and grey skies.  After a slow morning at home we got ready and headed out to the lake for a "glöggfest" with Christian's aunt, uncle, and cousins at their beautiful home.  Basically, we sat around eating appetizers and drinking Pia's homemade glögg which was absolutely delicious, then switched over to wine and chocolates while we caught up for hours with this welcoming family.  The next day we had a bit more shopping to do for the Christmas holiday so the 4 of us packed into the car and headed out to Värnamo, a town not too far away along the river where we walked around checking out Christmas shops and trying to find the delicious wine we had the night before at the systembolaget.  Christian was so excited to find a cheese pie at the store {basically, a very cheesy quiche} that we heated it up for dinner that night, then proceeded to prep some food for Christmas Eve dinner the next day while I enjoyed a yummy pastry from the grocery store.

remember this dock from last time?

breakfast

xoxo,

stephanie marie