snow, gloves, trees, mom, and Emma

I snowblowed the driveway this morning before Andreas left for work. Wasn't that sweet of me? I thought so too.

As usual, my fingers were the first to get cold. Can anybody recommend a really kick ass brand of gloves that would keep my precious digits warm while outside for more than 3 minutes?? I would totally appreciate any suggestions. Totally.

The pine trees out back look all droopy because the branches are weighed down by the snowfall yesterday. It's looking very Christmas-y out there today :)

I took the girls to see Gram last night. She got moved from Innovis to Triumph (I think that's the name). It's a rehab center on University. She will be enduring 3 intense hours of rehab per day until she leaves. I am thankful for that.

Here's a cute picture I took of Emma last weekend.


I'm getting a new lens any day now and I'm super duper excited to see how it performs. Brace yourself for a ton of pictures in the near future!

I really don't have anything to blog about. Really trying to milk this post for all it's worth. But I got nothin'... so bye.

Any Swedish Chefs out there??

Last night, as I was looking through my awesome Swedish Cakes and Cookies cookbook, figuring out what I was going to bake today, I said, "Maybe we should open up a Swedish style bakery".

Andreas thought that was a lovely idea. He said, "It could be in the mall. And we could decorate the interior Swedish style."

I said, "I'm serious! I think it would be awesome. We could try all these Swedish recipes and get good at them. Everyone would love this stuff! Plus we'd get to work together, it would be so fun".

Then he said he didn't think he was ready to quit his software developing job. I'd have to find someone else to bake with me. Maybe I could find some Swedish chefs willing to bake day in and day out with me.....right Jess? Right Carin? lol

Anyway, I asked Eden what she thought of the idea of me opening up a Swedish bakery and she said, "YEAH!" Very enthusiasticly. Then she said, "Then I can take it over when you die". Nice.

I made Chocolate Mint Tops, Nutmeg Meltaways, & Almond Spice Cookies today. Tomorrow I want to for sure make bourbon pecan brownies. Doesn't that sound just amazing??!! I think so. Can't wait to try it. I found the recipe here. It's a blog called How Sweet It Is.

What do you read?

There was this list going around facebook recently; 100 books you should read (or something like that) and apparently the average person has only read 6.

Just glancing at the list, I recognized most of the titles but hadn't read many. I was too scared to even count, didn't want to have an actual number. Why be more disappointed in myself for something I haven't done, right?

I guess you pick your path, and not everyone can do everything. For instance, I would love to be a successful career woman and I would love to be a stay at home mom. I can't do both now can I. I chose one path. Stressful as it can be at times, I love it. No boss, no set hours, no working weekends or holidays....no pay either! Ha!

Anyway, I brought it up to my husband last night and he was intrigued by this list so I looked it up. I was certain his number was going to be quite high. This man has read like a zillion books. And he's a super brain. Trust me. Yet, his number was pretty low. I think it was around 17. So, who is the one that makes a list like this? Who says which books you 'should' read? Is it supposed to be a way to gauge how smart you are? Because if it is, it's not a very good gauge. Like I said, my hubs is a very smart man. Well read. He just maybe prefers books that don't bore him to death. And, probably, the books that he reads would bore you to death.

My number was 11. But there were a number of books on that list I would like to read. It actually prompted me to make a list of my own; books to read. I am currently reading The Lovely Bones (which is on the list) and surprisingly enough, it was a book I ordered online this past summer, before I even knew this 100 books list existed. Go figure!

In my case, it's probably a pretty accurate gauge of brains. My siblings took all there was from the brain train and I just went for a ride. And I feel quite slighted by that, I might add ;) It does make me feel a bit like the black sheep of the family. I keep joking about how I should open up a bakery or a fitness club, or how about a fitness club/bakery? Don't see many of those, do you? Or I should go back to school and get a doctorate in something or other....make myself feel like I'm more than just a skin tube.

I think by the age that I am (I'll never tell.....ok, I'm 36. You are so persistent!), one should have a firm grasp on what they want to do the rest of their life. Me? I still feel like I'm 18. What do I want to do? What will be fulfilling to me? There are so many things I think I'd like to do, but which do I pick? I mean, what if I spend all this time and energy putting focus on one thing and it turns out not to be it? Then what? Back to square one? Try again? I could be at retiring age before I find out what it is I was meant for!

But for right now, I'll settle for being a successful mom. One who reads great authors like David Shannon, Tedd Arnold, Judy Schachner, Mo Williams and Anna Dewdney. :o)

Holiday spirit

I've actually been posting in my workout diary -------->

And some quotes from one of my all time favorite holiday movies:

Ruby Sue: Rocky bit my thumb. Him's nervous.
Clark: Nervous or excited?
Ruby Sue: Shittin' bricks.
Clark: You shouldn't use that word.
Ruby Sue: Sorry. Shittin' rocks

Clark: Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?
Eddie: Naw, I'm doing just fine, Clark.

Todd: Hey Griswold. Where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?
Clark: Bend over and I'll show you.
Todd: You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that Griswold.
Clark: I wasn't talking to you.

And for more totally awesome quotes from Christmas Vacations, click here!

More Swedish Christmas Traditions

Swedish Christmas Traditions ... Part 3

Dancing around the Christmas tree occurs on Christmas day. The family will dance in circles around the tree singing Christmas songs. This is something I've never witnesses myself. Our tree is always up against a corner so there is no room for dancing (also, our neighbors would think we were pagans).

The Christmas buffet is a big deal. You buy a seat somewhere and there will be hundreds of people eating from this HUGE buffet filled with things like meatballs, potatoes, lutefisk, ham, porridge, wart bread, smoked sausages, ribs, herring, smoked salmon, gravlax, beet salad, red cabbage, head cheese and lets not forget the grilled pigs head with an apple in it's mouth for the centerpiece.

Christmas drinks include different bock style beers (usually darker and sweeter), aquavit (strong liquor) - which Andreas says is the only way you are able to eat gravlax, plenty of aquavit, because it's so disgusting. Incidentally, gravlax is salmon that has been buried underground for so long that it's started to rot - yum! Then there is Julmust, which is Christmas soda that you can only buy it around Christmas and Easter, although at Easter time it is called Paaskmust. We are actually able to get Julmust at Stabo. Glögg, of course, is spiced wine. Hornbacher's actually has this stocked so we don't have to get it at Stabo.

I briefly mentioned the Christmas Goat before. The Christmas Goat is the Santa Claus character that comes and delivers the presents to the children. But this was an "olden days" tradition.

A little more to mention about Lucia:

Star boys - boys with stars in their hands, cone shaped hats with stars, dressed in white
Gingerbread boys - dressed in gingerbread costumes
Lucia - the most beautiful girl gets picked (and I thought crowning a homecoming queen was a good way to give girls a complex)
Girls that were not chosen as Lucia, wear the same white dress, red silk scarf, lights in their hands, but no crown. They will generally go to retirement homes or hospitals and serve saffron buns and coffee.

The boys go with the girls and they sing Christmas carols. This all takes place the morning of Lucia.

Grown men singing Lady GaGa acapella

My daughter showed this to me....awesome.

God Jul

It was snowing heavily this morning. I love when it does that!

And now,

Swedish Traditions ... (as I promised)

part 1 ... LUCIA

I'm no expert, but this is what I know about Lucia:

Every town crowns it's own Lucia. I gather it's a pretty big deal for the girl who gets to be Lucia. She dresses up in a white dress with a crown of candles on her head, red silk tie around her waist. I'm going to have to get Andreas to give me a background to the story of Lucia because the one from the book I have is a little confusing. "The name comes from the Italian saint, Lucia, but nobody knows how she became a part of Swedish Christmas celebrations" - says my book. But, on the morning of December 13th, Lucia comes with coffee and saffron buns (or Lucia Buns). I think it also says in there somewhere about how the kids actually go trick-or-treating (so to speak) the night before Lucia.

Part 2 ... DECORATIONS

Christmas crackers, braided hearts, straw crafts, little gnomes & candelabras (these are the things that come to mind when I think Swedish Christmas).

Braided hearts are made from 2 colors of construction paper. And to describe them is pretty self explanatory, it's a heart shape and the colors are braided. I'm not very good at making these. But they are so cute. The Christmas crackers are made from tissue paper. We rolled ours around a toilet paper tube, stuffed candy in the tube and then tied the ends and cut them into strips, like a pom pom. Very cool.

I showed you our Christmas goat in the last post. But those aren't the only straw decorations you might see. Hearts and stars are quite common as well.

We have a few little figures of gnomes that come out with our Christmas decor. I believe they are called, tomte? Or maybe that's just santa. I'm not quite sure. Andreas will probably have a hay day pointing out all my mistakes here. Anyway, they are a lot different from our typical American Santa decorations. The ones we have are just a round red body, white or grey beard and red hat. We also have some made from yarn. They are very basic but that is what I think is so cool about them. Not overdone and lavish.

What else...oh yeah, candelabras. These you will find in every home as well. I know this for a fact because when we lived in Denmark, there was a least one window per home that had one lit. We bought one but can't use it because we can't find our little outlet adapter thinger. It's so beautiful. You can find this and other cool Scandinavian Christmas stuff at Stabo in the mall - but it's on the spendy side.

Next time, I think I'll talk about the food we usually prepare. We have a Swedish feast every Christmas and it's wonderful, believe me! My favorite are the nutmeg pork patties, but that's all I'm giving away for now ;)

'til next time...God Jul!