Christmas Day 2011

It is Christmas morning and Lucas wants to play with the presents.  He knows they are covered in one of his favorite things, something the big people call "paper", but how can he get that paper separated from the other thing and into his mouth without someone stopping him!

Ray and I had really wanted stockings for the kids for Christmas morning but after lots of looking we could not find any.  In retrospect we should have brought some with us because stockings are not part of Swedish Christmas.  We were so lucky that our Danish cousin Trine wanted to make some for us and mail them to us.  Thank you Trine and we love our "Danish socks"!  When Annalise saw her stocking she remembered picking out the fabric and she was excited!

The stocking has "God Jul" embroidered on it which is Merry Christmas in Swedish.  These stockings are very special to us and we will use them every year from now on!

Annalise is excited!

Yes blocks!!

We gave Lucas his elephant blanket for Christmas. We will see if it will become as beloved as "Bubu." 

Santa gave the kids a few toys to share.  This one is from a Julmarket in Denmark.  It is a rocking horse that rocks down a ramp.  A hit with both kids!

Annalise got her first real computer- exciting! She is teaching both of us how to use it!

Now that the presents are open it is time to play with everything! Mmmmm ... blocks!

After some play time and a quick nap we took the bus across town to eat Christmas dinner with our dear friends Hannah, Wes, Ellie, and Sadie.  Thank you for having us over and making us feel so welcome!

This was our second Christmas with no family (but our first 6000 miles away from family!).  Our first was the year Annalise was born and Ray and I both have fond memories of relaxation and expectation!  This year was sad and both Ray and I felt homesick.  Thanks to skype we got to spend lots of time talking to family but of course it is not the same as being there.  Overall it was a good Christmas but it is nice to know next year we will be in Arizona surrounded by family and friends and probably much busier than we'd like! 

Christmas Eve in Sweden

In Sweden the day that most people celebrate Christmas and open presents is Christmas Eve.   We did not have any plans and were feeling homesick so we filled our day with opening presents, walking around the city and taking pictures, and making cookies (thanks Melissa for the good idea!).

First Lucas gets to open his first Christmas present! He was much more interested in eating the paper than the presents but that is okay!  We told Annalise about her first Christmas when she was more interested in bows than presents and she said, "Now I am interested in the presents!"

Annalise gets her first lego play set!  Animals of course!

Lucas receives his first train!

Annalise helped me unwrap my favorite present, a world map!  Ray and I have decided we will always have a map on the wall wherever we live!

I got Ray a really neat photo book all about our great city!

Here is Lucas playing with his train.

Annalise made Ray a Santa Claus!

After opening presents we took a walk around the city.  Ray and I had been wanting to have some time to take pictures  so this was a great opportunity.  We thought there would be no people but we saw a lot of people!

Here I am showing off my second favorite present, new gloves to keep my hands warm from Ray. 

This is a common Christmas decoration we see.  I think it is one of Santa's elves but some Santa's look like this too in Sweden.

Annalise wanted to be in a picture!

Domkyrkan, the large cathedral in the middle of town.

Domkyrkan through the park.

Most of the store windows were decorated with some type of Christmas theme. This is the window of a tea house near the Stortorget in Lund.

Flowers still blooming on Christmas Eve!

A rose bud

This is the window to a building directly across the courtyard from the Domkyrkan. When you look at both buildings at the same time it is a total contrast in architecture and two different cultural times ... midevil meets art nouveau

We sat in the city center and ate a picnic lunch.  It was so sunny Annalise was complaining about how bright it was! That has not happened much since we arrived in Sweden.  I think it was a little Christmas gift to Ray and I because we have been missing the sunshine!

When we got home it was time to make Christmas cookies ... pepparkakors!

While we made cookies Lucas sat at the table and played with and ate flour!

He had a lot of fun!

Can we eat them yet?

No rolling pin but a glass worked just fine.

Did we mention Lucas had a lot of fun!!!!

It was pretty fun and funny to watch Lucas lick the flour off the table.

Love that baby so much!!!

Interesting fact about Sweden.  Cookie sheets are sold with your oven and slide into the grooves like oven racks.  Which means that you cannot buy regular cookie sheets.  I have looked everywhere and finally asked my Swedish friend and he explained it to me.  So we had to bake the cookies in a pan!

More presents while the cookies were baking!

Annalise helped me open my present.