The Year Is Dying In the Night…

In these the last shivering hours of 2008, I thought a stanza from Lord Tennyson’s poem Ring Out Wild Bells would be appropriate:
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
And then some famous lines from my fellow [...]

Merry Christmas and Bless Us All!

John as a Dancing Santa in our 2008 Christmas Card.

So this is Christmas, and what have you done? To continue the words of John Lennon, another year is over and this is the time to contemplate on what you’ve done with it.
Looking back, I think I can safely say that I’ve had the best year [...]

Celebrating St Lucia With a St Lucian

Yesterday, 13 December, was a special day in this house. Us Swedes celebrate St Lucia and her arrival marks the start of the Yule tide. She comes dressed in a white robe with a red ribbon around her waist and candles in her hair, reminding us that this time of darkness and despair will pass [...]

I Have Yule-tidied Our Bedroom

Happy Second Advent to all of you who are counting the four Sundays before Christmas. Or Jul (Yule) as us Swedes call it.
Yesterday, I spent the day making our bedroom all yule-tidy. Got new curtains up, did some redecorations and cleaned every corner so today I don’t want to leave the room at all. It [...]

Long Time No See!

I don’t know how this happened, but all of a sudden it’s December and Christmas is around the corner. Not too long ago it was September and winter seemed so far away. There was so much I was hoping for, and so little seemed to be happening. But then the ketchup-effect kicked in and everything [...]