I have now officially had my first Christmas away from home. Christmas in Sweden is very different and very similar to Christmas in Canada. The largest difference being that in Sweden, Christmas Eve is when the holiday is celebrated. Here, almost no one puts up Christmas lights, which makes it seem very dark out near Christmas, especially because there's no snow yet and the Sun goes down a little after 3 p.m.My Christmas started out on Saturday night when I slept over at Henric's girlfriend's appartment. At 2 a.m., there was a special on T.V. about Candy Cane lane in Edmonton, so of course I HAD to watch it! : ) That was when it finally started to feel like Christmas. On Sunday morning, we (Henric, Therese - his girlfriend, Caroline - Therese's daughter, and I) woke up around 11 and had traditional Christmas rice porridge.
By 12:30, we were at Therese's parents' house to eat a Christmas smorgasbord of fish (raw), fish (cooked), more fish, hamk, meatballs, and potatoes. Note the lack of vegetables - I think Europeans have forgotten they exist! Swedish Christmas food is definitely an "experience"!
After opening a few presents, we watched the Donald Duck Christmas show on T.V. which has been a Swedish tradition for over 50 years.Next, Henric and I were off for the drive back to Eskilstuna from Västerås (about 30 minutes) to pick up Emma and Oscar from their Mom's house.
We then continued on to Henric's pa
rents' place for Christmas dinner and to open a few more gifts. After our evening there, we went back home to relax for an hour before heading on to Henric's sister's place. It was then that I finally got the chance to open my packages from home which was really nice. I really enjoyed reading the cards from home so thanks so much!
After a few hours at Henric's sister's, spent watching T.V. with the cousins, we went to midnight mass at Kloster Kyrka (a beautiful old church downtown). The service was a lot different from what I'm used to at hodme on Christmas Eve (and I don't just mean the language difference); yet, I still enjoyed going.By 2 a.m. I was finally home and in bed. I have to say, it was definitely the most busy Christmas I've ever had!
Friday, I'm off to Slovakia to visit Lubos (for those of you who remember him).
Happy New Years everyone!
1 comments:
Haha, the Kloster church was built in the 1920's if i remember it correctly, so I wouldnt say old, Fors church (the one beside school) on the other hand is rather old! ;) see yoou
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