First of Advent 2011

We have arrived once again at the start of a new church year and the much anticipated season of Advent.  I am going to try and blog daily in the days leading up to Christmas.  It feels like a worthy goal and a great way for me to focus on what's happening throughout these days.
In our staff devotions last Wednesday, the Swedish choir director pointed out an interesting play on words that had never occurred to me.  (Plays on words are hard in foreign languages). She spoke of how Advent and att vänta are interconnected!  The verb, att vänta, sounds a lot like Advent with an 'a' added onto the end.  It means to wait, and well, the season of Advent is all about waiting...waiting with great expectation and hope for the incarnation of Jesus Christ to pierce our darkness and flood our world with light and grace.  Taking time in the midst of the chaos of Christmas that surrounds us to consider the coming light of Christ will increase your ability to appreciate Christmas.  There is nothing worse than being sick of Christmas by the time the main event occurs!  I have no doubt that everyone has plenty to do in the coming weeks, but I urge you, as I urge myself, to find some quiet time in each day to consider the spiritual realities that are surrounding us at this time of year.  Wait, with eager anticipation rather than impatient frustration, for all that awaits us in the coming weeks.  The first candle has been lit.  May its small flicker of light point you in the right direction throughout this first week of the Advent season.

Thanksgiving Adventures

I have learned through the years to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day even though it's not a holiday here in Sweden.  It is easily the one day of the year when I miss being in the US more than any other.  I think it's because the entire nation aligns itself around one theme...giving thanks.  And unlike other holidays that are celebrated here in Sweden, like Christmas and Easter, Thanksgiving is totally missing.  So for instance, tonight, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, I ran to the store and it was surprisingly empty.  No frenzy in the produce aisle, no looking for the perfect dinner roll, no one frantic over wondering how much cranberry sauce to get!  In fact, cranberry, stuffing, dinner rolls, pie crusts, canned pumpkin...not available.  Fortunately, I've had enough folks stopping by Stockholm from the USA lately that I've been able to assemble the goods necessary for making stuffing and pumpkin pie.  I have to make my crust from scratch, but hopefully that'll turn out just fine!  I did panic a little tonight when I could not find sweet potatoes in the store.  Luckily, after perusing the produce section a couple of times I located them tucked away on an unassuming shelf.  Again, I was the only one buying them.  By the way, they were $1.60 a pound...is that a good price?  And in case you are wondering, I was able to find a 9.9 pound turkey, the biggest the store had.  How 'bout you?  How big was your turkey?   I'm very thankful for my American friends here in Stockholm who rally around this holiday as I do and we will love every minute of being together eating our small little bird tomorrow evening!

I do miss the US, I miss our families, I miss all the buzz and excitement around this great week-end.  I miss this lovely 4 day weekend at the end of November.  But I am taking the day off and will enjoy the adventures in my kitchen tomorrow and toast our friends who will join us around our table.  And when the lovely smell of roast turkey begins to take over our stairwell, perhaps my Swedish neighbors will wish they were just a little bit American on this 4th Thursday of November.  Happy Thanksgiving readers.  I hope you enjoy the day, however you are celebrating.

Time Marches On

Yesterday marked a year since Doug broke his leg on the street .  It was an icy November afternoon, bone chillingly cold and a difficult, long day.  Yesterday was sunny and beautiful here, not too cold yet, and no signs of ice or snow.  We haven't even had much rain.  Doug started to repaint our bedroom, handling being on a ladder with ease.  I am very happy that I am not going to have to walk the dog alone for the next 4 months! It's amazing too because at the time, the Dr. said that it could take up to a year for the leg to fully heal and of course, we thought that was crazy.  But I must say that in just the last two weeks, Doug has noticed a significant shift in the pain and flexibility in his foot.  Perhaps there is something to this year time frame.  
Thinking about the "anniversary" of Doug's breaking his leg got me thinking about the way in which we mark time and remember events.  I am a "remember the date" person.  I like being tuned into the rhythm that remembering dates allows.  I am not entirely sure why marking time matters to me.  Maybe it helps us understand that we are growing, changing, moving ahead...or in some cases not.  Of course, we all want to remember and be remembered on the big days of our lives: birthdays and anniversaries, but what about the sad events of our lives...is it also not important to somehow mark the way in time goes by in light of those things as well?
Anniversaries of death for example are hard.  And the first year after a death is especially significant getting through all the "firsts" without your beloved.  People tend to be a bit more aware of all that people who have experienced loss are feeling during that first year.  Our hearts are heavy as a family as we face the coming holiday season without Debbie.  Her absence is felt every single day, but for some reason, during these seasons that you just count on being together but are not, well, the acuteness of loss strikes again.
But even as the years go by, marking significant moments remains important. A friend just marked the 3 year passing of her husband on 11-11-11.  Sunday another friend marks the 2 year passing of hers.  In March it'll be 5 years since my brother died.  In May, 5 years since my mom's ovarian cancer was diagnosed.  We feel incredibly grateful that she has survived this tough ordeal and still enjoying life.  We treasure every day we have.  And we mark time.  We count the years that go by, perhaps hoping to see growth and healing in our lives from the hard things, a swelling of joy and happiness from the good things.

 Time goes by so fast.  You hear so many people say that.  Maybe marking the significant moments in our lives is a way of somehow not allowing the passage of time to just completely overwhelm us.  So much of life is a blur.  I think it is a gift when the calendar reminds us of something significant that has happened in our lives.  Even the hard stuff.  After all, it is what life is about.  Moments, experiences, events, and people who have shaped and formed us.  At times, I am grateful to be able to order my world around remembrances.  Painful though some of it may be, I do think it helps us to understand more fully what truly matters, what's truly going on in the present, and how far we've come from the past.  I wish you peace when the difficult anniversaries of your life pass by and I wish you joy when you celebrate the wonderful ones too.

Anthropomorphic Collective Nouns

I totally stole this off an email someone sent me but I found it so hilarious that I had to share it on my blog.  Most of us are familiar with certain ways in which we name animal groups even if we never did know that in doing so we were using anthropomorphic collective nouns.  So for instance a herd of cows, a school of fish, a flock of chickens, and a gaggle of geese are all collective nouns that are familiar.  Less familiar are a pride of lions, a mob of kangaroos, an exultation of doves (love that one!), a rookery of penguins, a troop of chimpanzees, a murder of crows, and presumably because they look so wise, a parliament of owls.  
Now, consider a group of baboons: They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates.  And do you know what we call that?  
A CONGRESS of baboons!  There's your laugh of the day!  Sadly, too much of what goes on in politics today is sheer monkey business or should I say baboon business!  Many thanks to whomever thought of this in the first place!

Coping With Dark November

While we've enjoyed the most mild November temperatures in over 100 years here in Stockholm, there is no change in the reality of short days for this time of year.  And while I am happy that I can still be out without a hat, gloves and boots and often still get by with wearing my down vest as a jacket, I must admit that the shortness of the day has startled me at times.  Last week I was in an afternoon meeting in a basement room from 1.00-3.00 p.m. which meant that when I popped back upstairs it was dusky.  It's hard to wake up in the morning because it is so pitch dark.  7.00 a.m. feels like 3.00 a.m.  I am very happy for my Philips Wake Up Light.  It is really the only way that we've been able to adjust to getting up when it feels like the middle of the night.  You set your Wake Up Light alarm for whatever time you want the alarm to ring, but one half hour before the alarm goes off, a wide pattern light begins to come on that simulates the sunrise.  By the time the alarm rings, your room is bathed in a soft, beautiful, easy to wake up to light that your brain registers as outside light.  It's wonderful.  I've actually renamed it the Wake Up Happy Light!
The afternoon darkness really sneaks up on you.  Today we decided to take Tanner for an afternoon stroll through the city.  The sky was blue and sunny earlier in the day but by the time we got out, the sun had started to set and again, it was feeling dusky.  I took these photos on the water front.  Beautiful right?  Guess what time they were taken?
2.00 p.m.  
And we still have 5 more weeks of descending before we start turning around again.  Even so, while I don't love the short days, signs of Christmas are popping up around town which always brightens the landscape and yesterday we hosted a gathering for newcomers to our church and the lit candles were warm and cozy.We will get through another winter!  But in some ways I think the bears have the right idea...go into hibernation for a few months and sleep through this dark period!

Early Thanksgiving

Today I enjoyed an early Thanksgiving lunch thanks to the American Women's Club in Stockholm and the Sheraton Hotel.  What a lovely way to spend a gray November day!  It's pretty fun to walk away from work, head downtown and indulge in this uniquely American treat of turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and of course pie!  (I know our Canadian neighbors celebrate Thanksgiving in October...is the menu the same?)  A special taste of America awaited me in the Sheraton dining room.  The beautiful table decorations and delicious food that followed delighted my senses. The turkey was beautifully cooked and I was seriously tempted to dive head first into the bowl that held the mashed sweet potatoes.  In fact, I was first one to completely polish off my plate at my table!  You would think that I was satisfied, but oh no, they were about the begin the pie course! I made my way to the desert table and located the beautiful apple pies and initially what we all thought were pecan pies.  Turns out that they were caramel pies with pecan garnishes.  Oh my...it was like eating a big 'ol bowl of delicious melted caramel.  It was so tasty that I "had" to return for a bit more.  Positively gluttonous.  There is just no other way to say it.
Between the main course and dessert the host of the event read some fun facts about Thanksgiving and revealed the lucky guest at each table who would receive a nice gift.  I happened to be seated in the right place and in addition to the amazing food, I received a fun little gift bag with a film, a Thanksgiving potholder and kitchen towel and some cranberry jell-o which I will use when I make my own feast on the day when the rest of my country celebrates this special and enduring American tradition! 
I had hoped to get some work done in the afternoon but the compelling urge to nap was too powerful.  This evening, I'm savoring the flavors of the food and the joy of being gathered with friends around a bountiful table.

Fitness Humor

For ages I've been trying to get back into a decent work-out routine.  Finally, a new gym opened up one block from our house!  They were running new membership specials so we decided to jump on it realizing that if we can't get to a gym that is across the street from our house, well, it seems unlikely that we'll ever start working out again!  And today we took the plunge and made our way to our first class!  Now, the gym is really awesome and I am very pleased.  Great machines, free weights and an entire array of classes to choose from.  I hope to learn how to use some of the equipment and get much fitter in the year ahead.  But for today, we decided on the dance aerobics class.
Now, I have very athletic parents so my gene pool is pretty good.  I considered myself a decent athlete when I was younger and when the competition is just right, I can still turn it pretty well on the tennis court!  And I like a class with a leader where someone is telling me what to do.  But I have to say, had you been a fly on the wall, you might've enjoyed a pretty good laugh as I tried to get the steps right.  By the end of the class, I had about half the steps right.  I was so happy when I finally figured out the grapevine, spin, hop, spin, grapevine move!  I was very proud of myself, but suddenly the instructor added another turn and I was off once again!  Oj.  It was hilarious.  Anyway...It felt great to get out and move and learn some new Swedish words and groove to the beat...even if the beat was my own and not the same one the rest of the class was doing!