Our Journey to Sweden: Our First Holiday in Sweden

Chase's party, last week, was a fun time for all…. until the stomach bug snuck in and attacked all of the little ones. Sunday evening Smith woke up sick and slept the entire day on Monday. Chase, however, never did get sick, so he went to school only to find his ENTIRE class (all of which was at his party) out sick. Ms. Jeanna and Chase enjoyed a nice day together and Chase was even allowed to hang out in the Pre-K class for some of the day. Poor Smitty stayed home for two days but by Tuesday evening, was running around the apartment with his brothers. I, however, did not have the same luck as Chase, and I was in bed all day on Tuesday. I was very thankful that Steve was able to rearrange some things at work in order to take the boys to and from school, and make all the meals for the family that day. What a good hubby and daddy!
Wednesday morning everyone was back to school, I felt a lot better, so I spent the day disinfecting the apartment and doing loads and loads of laundry. It's always fun doing laundry at my house…. If I decide to use the dryer, it takes two hours to finish, and therefore I can't do another wash until the the dryer stops. Even after the two hours, the clothes are still wet, and have to be hung to dry. If you came to my house on Wednesday, you would have seen sheets and blankets hanging from all of the doors, drying. You would have also seen drying racks in bedrooms and in our living room with clothes hanging to dry.
Clothes here in Sweden take a beating! Everyone warned me that it's very dirty here in Stockholm and that most of the shoes and boots would only last one season because of the wear and tear. I half believed this when I heard it, thinking that I won't let my shoes get that dirty. How wrong I was. There is dirt and gravel everywhere, along with a lot of dust. The boys shoes and pants come home each day completely black. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I am now the master of stain removal though. Three boys in Stockholm is training me well. Our foyer, the hallway when you first walk in to our apartment, always has gravel and dust on the floor and mat. I vacuum this area once a day and by 5:00pm, it looks as though I haven't vacuumed in a week. I'm slowly learning to let this go as well. Mainly because the snow hasn't even hit yet…. it's going to get a lot worse. Breathe in and out Andrea… it will be okay.

We made it through Thanksgiving, not being in America…. and now I'm really looking forward to Christmas. I've been debating whether to decorate my apartment because we're leaving on December 14th. As most do, I absolutely LOVE decorating for Christmas. I not only love the way it looks when we're finished, but I love the act of doing it. I blast my Christmas music and spend the day arranging and rearranging until it looks perfect in my eyes. Even though I have tons and tons of decorations, I can't resist buying more and more each December. So, to not be doing that this year, feels very weird. But, it seems pointless to spend that much time shopping and then decorating the apartment for only two weeks. Then we'll come home from our trip only to have to pack it all up and find room to store it in our tiny space.
The Christmas decor here is very different than what we have at home, but I do like it. It's a softer look, lots of greys and whites, with a touch of red. Tomte, Swedish Santas, are everywhere. Who knows… maybe Tomte will show up in America this year. So, I've just now decided, as I'm writing this, that I will put my little wreathe on the door,

play only Christmas music throughout the house, and wait until next year to have an apartment full of Christmas decor. We plan on spending Christmas in Sweden in 2014. Here's your invitation…. come join us! :)

Tomte

Stockholm is beginning to light up and the beautiful, festive feel can be found. Here are a few pictures that my friends Lori and Nancy captured on one of their outings.

Sunset at 3:30pm

Lori carrying her Christmas tree home

Florist window on Karlbergvagen

Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), Steve and I had to get our personal id cards made. Remember all the nightmare stories about the personal numbers when we first moved here? This is the final step in the process. We had to take our identification numbers (equivalent to Social Security number in U.S.), along with passport, and proof of payment from our bank, to Södermalm, so we could get our actual id cards made. As I mentioned before, there aren't checks, money orders, or cashier checks like we have in America. Instead, we deposit money directly into a company, or a personal bank account, and that's how payment is issued. Since nothing having to do with our personal numbers has gone smoothly since the day we arrived in Sweden, we weren't expecting anything different today. We walked out the door, certain we had all the paperwork needed. Steve looked at me and said, you realize something is going to go wrong today right? "Of course" was my reply. We arrived, picked a number, sat down, and waited about 10 minutes until we were called to the window. "Receipt from the bank please". Steve looked at me and I looked at him waiting for the other to pull out the paperwork that was still sitting on the printer in our office. Thankfully, it was Thanksgiving that day, and someone was looking over us, because they had proof of payment in their computer and let us slide on that one. Thirty minutes later, pictures were taken, paperwork was filed, and we were out the door. Two weeks from now we should receive a notice that the cards are ready and we'll head back to the office and pick them up. We will finally be OFFICIAL here in Sweden. Our very first endeavor without a hiccup. Wow!
We headed to lunch where I ate the most delicious vegetable soup I've ever had. Yes, I know, I was shocked too! After lunch, we visited the travel agent who is planning our February trip to Barcelona and then France where we'll hit the slopes for a few days. Travel agents, or at least this one, are very different from what we're used to. I'm used to sitting with them while they find deals, suggest locations, offer advice, and generally know more than me about vacationing. From my experience, I knew quite a bit more than he did about this particular vacation, and as we walked out, we wondered why we aren't booking this trip on our own. We will see what "deal" he comes back with, but it seems that we will figure it out ourselves.

As we walked around on Thursday, both Steve and I felt sad that we were here, instead of with our family, eating turkey, watching football (well, Steve was mostly sad about that), drinking wine (that was my sorrow) and enjoying time with those that we love. The boys were in school and we were eating soup and greek pita wraps instead. It was freezing that day. The temperature didn't show how cold it really was though. I think it finally hit 32°F, which is cold, but not as cold as it felt. The wind that day was brutal making it feel closer to 20°F. I actually woke up that morning to the howling winds outside. That evening we went to Copperfields and had a little Thanksgiving celebration of our own.

If only they loved each other like this all the time

Speaking of waking up to howling winds….. Because I was sick this week, and the temperatures did drop a bit from last week, it made me ponder on life here in Sweden, in the winter. Not having a car, has been a bit of a struggle at times, but not having a car to jump into each morning as the temps are freezing, is quite a different struggle. Regardless of my health, the temperature, the weather, I will be walking to school every morning. Thankfully, Steve was able to take them this week while I was sick. Next time, I may not be that lucky. It's usually difficult getting out of bed in the early morning regardless, but to hear the wind, to see the frost outside, and to feel sick, makes it that much harder. I told my sister the other day on the phone, my new motto is never leave home without your hat, scarf and gloves.

Since we're on the topic of cold, I will continue with my Friday adventures. Lori, Tatiana, Veronica, and I met at Brasserie Tures for lunch before spending the day at the Mews, Royal Stables, Christmas Market. We loved this restaurant, the atmosphere, and especially the food.

Tatianna, Veronica, Lori, Me

my lunch… check out the raw egg in the cucumber

After lunch, we visited the Christmas Market. Christmas markets are very popular here. It's where vendors set up their booths selling Swedish handcrafts and delicacies. We were also able to stroll around the grounds of the Royal Mews Buildings.

Just before entering the grounds

The Royal Carriages

Veronica trying on lamb's wool ear muffs

Pony rides were offered for the children

walking through the grounds

I love these…. very common here

We spent over three hours outside, in temperatures around 24°F. Even though I had my wool socks on, my toes were completely numb. My fingers weren't doing any better. It was time to walk back to school and pick up the kids. Veronica was so cold, I thought she was going to cry. She kept insisting that we walk into a store, only for a few minutes. If we did that, we would've been late picking up the kids. So, we kept on walking. Finally, I saw her speed up and go running into a pet store. Wondering what she was doing, we came to find out that she spotted fur insoles (Wooly wool insoles to be exact) for her shoes and decided she couldn't take another step until her toes were thawed out. We all took a brief break and bought a pair of these very cozy… very warm, gifts from God!

The workers in the store were laughing at us…. I"m sure they were thinking that we were in for a long winter if these temperatures were making our toes numb. We managed to make it back to school on time. The rest of the ladies headed home with their kiddos, but of course mine wanted to play. Since Friday is a play day after school, I had to do my mommy duties and grin and bear it. By the time we got home around 5:30, I was so cold that I wore my hat for the remainder of the night. Even after changing my clothes and putting on three more layers of fleece, I couldn't get the cold out of my bones. Being outside for 5+ hours in sub 30° temperatures is not in my blood.

A good night's sleep warmed me right up and I woke up feeling brave enough to go for a run outdoors. Jake looked out the window and was convinced it snowed, however, it was only frost. I bundled up and headed out the door for a nice, crisp run at the water. It was very beautiful this morning with the sun rising over the water, the trail full of people, and a light frost covering the ground. There were areas where I had to be very careful of the ice… I almost slipped twice.

The rest of the day was spent in true "Thanksgiving" fashion…. lounging, watching t.v. and relaxing. This was the day we were celebrating Thanksgiving with all of our American Xpat friends. We rented out Saints Food and Drink for fifty of us to celebrate together. They prepared a traditional Thanksgiving meal, full of turkey, ham, all the varieties of potatoes, green bean casserole, mac n cheese, pies and desserts. The food was delicious… we were all pleasantly surprised that Swedes would know how to cook a truly traditional American meal.