'Twas The Day After Christmas...

So...depending on where you are in the world, today is Annan Dag Jul (second day of Christmas in Sweden), Boxing Day, The Feast of St. Stephen (made famous in the carol Good King Wenceslas...he went out on the Feast of Stephen if you know the first line!) or in our case, wow, after a super busy season, we really have nothing we have to do today,day!  I'm savoring this quiet morning...watching the day break, candles lit, King's College Cambridge singing Christmas carols...peace and contentment are the reigning emotions.  Thankful. Blessed. Humbled.
So another Christmas season is over.  We've had a great time with our services and parties, culminating with our annual Christmas Open House yesterday.  Doug and I shared a quiet morning, sipping coffee, opening presents, enjoying a moment together.  Doug enjoyed opening his gifts that eventually revealed a trip a London Jan. 6-9 to visit friends and see the show Spamalot.  We've been wanting to see this musical based on Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail for many years and when I saw that it had returned to London, I jumped at the chance!  This is what he opened that revealed the show!

Meanwhile, I opened up a beautiful new glass pitcher to replace the one that shattered a few weeks ago, a practical and nice looking new bag for my computer and other work stuff, and a spa day.  My hubby knows me well!  Soon it was time to kick it into high gear and get ready to welcome 80 of our closest church members to enjoy our annual Christmas feast!  Doug began setting up the house and I began mixing, chopping, and fixing!  My helper elves began to arrive around 2.00 and they rolled the sausages in dough for the pigs in a blanket, peeled carrots, arranged the gravad (cured) lax on a platter and generally helped me get it all ready to serve!  We tasted the good stuff along the way and enjoyed the camaraderie of sharing in the kitchen tasks!  Soon the tables were ready, the cider was hot, and people began arriving.  All in all we likely had between 80-90 come through this year.    There were few left overs this year and my homemade toffee and chocolate chip cookies remain a big hit!  I'm thankful that most of it is gone as I need to stop eating it!

No snow or ice impeded people and we had a great time!  Our friend Jen thrilled the adults and children alike by donning the famed Santa Suit and we rounded out the Christmas Carol preaching series by showing The Muppet Christmas Carol for the kids!  

The gathering brings us joy and there are fewer things I love more than to make good food and watch people enjoy it!  It's such a wonderful way to finish out the Christmas season and since today is a holiday in Sweden, it's great to gather on Christmas day evening!  

We always receive many lovely gifts, loads of chocolate and flowers from people joining us.  This year we received an incredibly beautiful and diverse array of flowers!  I love each and every one of them and want to savor their beauty for a long as I can!  It's good to get some new ones in.  My poinsettias and hyacinth are now on the wane!  They've served me well throughout this Advent and Christmas season!

I ended the day by Skyping with my dad.  Poor guy has had a terrible sinus infection.  Fortunately he got into the Dr. on Christmas eve which was quite important as he needed to get started on antibiotics.  So he's been in bed for much of the holidays but he said he didn't really mind because it kept his mind off my mom being gone.  We've missed her for sure. It was so nice to talk with my dad via Skype, see his face, share our happenings.  It is now just about a month until we leave for the US so we're excited about that.

Tonight we're invited to dear friends for their annual Christmas Turkey dinner.  They live up the street from us so it's very nice to simply walk up there and enjoy a feast that someone else has prepared.

I feel so blessed.  Our life is so rich.  We are so thankful for our church family who enrich our lives in every way possible, for the love of family, even though they are far away from us, for friends near and far who we continue to enjoy seeing and hearing from.  Christmas is over but the spirit of Christ is alive and well in my heart. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gifts.

Annan Dag Jul: The Day After Christmas

Santa is ready for a day off...just like the rest of us!

Swedes often get the eve of a holiday, the actual holiday and the day after a holiday as, well, holidays! It's great to extend the celebration. The day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day in some parts of the world, is a great day to have off. Time to relax after a very busy season. This year it happens to fall on a Saturday so most would be off anyway, but it's still nice to think that today is a holiday!
We had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas morning was quiet with just me and Doug and the dog. We had decided to go easy on the gift giving this year since we have a big vacation in the United States in January and we like to shop while we're there. Plus, sometimes it's nice to just focus on other things. It's a lot easier limiting the gift stuff when you do not have children. Tanner didn't even get a new bone this year! But we did write one another cards, always a meaningful exchange, and we did give one another some small thing. Except Doug's wasn't really small! There's a new thing happening in Stockholm. Roof-top tours! Apparently you can now walk around the roofs of the buildings in Gamla Stan and get a bird's eye view of the area. The walk includes a guided tour with all kinds of interesting information about the city! So he gave me a walk for two which means we have a great evening ahead of us when the days start to get long again! It was very thoughtful and totally unexpected. I gave him a couple of books which is boring but also what he likes!
Once we were finished with our time together, we both needed to kick into high gear as we have a Christmas Day Open House that we invite anyone from the congregation to come to.



It has become a great tradition that people love. Our specialties of the house include Hot Apple Cider (a drink most have never tasted and love), spicy meatballs, homemade salsa, Mexican layer dip, prinskorv (tasty little Swedish sausages) wrapped in dough (pigs in a blanket), shrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce that is heavy on the horseradish, bacon wrapped water chestnuts, and many other scrumptious treats.

We make the food ourselves. This year we had great help from several in our congregation who came early to help us put the dishes together. Doug puts the tables up and does such a nice job with getting the house set up. Homemade chocolate chip cookies and toffee along with clementines and chocolates adorn the sweets table!

We had very little left over this year! It's so much fun watching people enjoy the food that you have made for them.

Additionally, we turn our extra bedroom into a home theater and show a movie, this year Up was showing. It's awesome in there! I wish we could just keep it. We'll watch a movie or two today before we tear it down and take the equipment back to church!
It never ceases to amaze me how people love to come to this party. It's so much fun to see people gathering and enjoying on a day when lots of us could feel alone. The house is filled with people...this year, about 80, and people are laughing and eating and enjoying themselves and it just makes me warm inside. I am so thankful that Doug is willing to work hard on this and that together we can create a situation for people to feel a sense of belonging, a sense of warmth and community.
As the day ended yesterday, I was filled with joy. I felt that the joy of Christmas and the love of Christ had been shining around me all day and I was so content. Today I am pondering these things in my heart and I am so happy for the day after Christmas...a day to relax, reflect and revel in all that happened in the past couple of days.