christmas days

And then Christmas happened!


On the night before Christmas, I went for a walk at Liseberg. Just because I can, because it's my nearest park, and because it's so beautiful. After that I went up to Forum to have a few dances with my love (it was Monday, so yes of course the Monday dance was on).


And then we went home and stayed up late with random Christmas things, like gift wrapping, snuggling, sending messages ...


... and staring at this beautiful perfect Christmas tree.


Christmas Eve morning! We had a long lazy brunch at home, with eggs florentine and pains au chocolat.


And then we went to my parents'. First we went to my grandparents' grave to light a candle, like we always do on Christmas Eve.




<3


Kale crisps! Such yum!


Liam made egg nog, because that's what he does. :)


Only took this photo at Christmas dinner. Liam obviously loves the Swedish julbord, because it has all the meat, and well ... all the food in general. :) He also loves julmust, so it seems like he'll fit right in here, doesn't it?


My brother didn't want to be in photos today (everyone else among my family and close friends has given me rolling consent to take photos unless they tell me not to, but my brother wants me to ask every time, and most of the time he says no), but here's my dad examining his one of his Christmas books! :)


Liam got "How to be Swedish" from my brother. :)


And here's what I got this year! Two books (we tend to do a lot of books in my family which I obviously love), a Moomin winter mug for my collection, and a gift card to a restaurant I'm excited to go to. Very pleased with this haul.


And then we had pudding! I don't love the taste but it is fun to see it on fire. :) And it felt nice to have something of the UK there, too. After dinner we played games and all that, and I didn't take any more photos after that.

On Christmas Day, I did what I have been doing for many years now, and went over to Johannes' to hang out with him and his family. (To Johannes' parents, I should say; he lives in Stockholm now, and that's why Christmas Day is such a good day to meet - he's always back in Gothenburg for Christmas.)



I got to say hi to his newest kid!


And play Mario Kart with his middle kid ...


... while Johannes played cards with his eldest kid. :)


After a while Johannes took over and then we played some more games. All in all it was a very chill Christmas Day and exactly what I wanted.

a walk in vienna

Back in December, Liam and I went to Vienna for a few days. We were mainly there for Lindy Tech Vienna with Kevin & Jo, which was hard work and an amazing opportunity for learning, just like the last Lindy Tech we did with them. Highly recommend!


Here's our beautiful airbnb - we really liked it there.


This is our street


and this is my love.


I didn't take any photos at all of anything dance related, but we did go out for burgers with this lovely crowd.



I was delighted that they had milkshakes, as that is mandatory with burgers.


Liam was delighted to see the amount of different condiments they had. :)


And then, on the Monday after the course was over, we had some time before our flight home. Everyone said we should "walk around the ring road" so we did just that. And we both immediately liked Vienna. What we saw was a really beautiful mix of ... everything. Here's what my camera saw:














It was a great weekend and we're looking forward to going back to Vienna at some point!

december 2019

December. Wonderful, magical December. Easily the best month of 2019. The first half was good because, well, Christmas preparations and light and warmth and parties and friends and Christmas music and all that regular jazz.

And then, it got even better. Just a few days before Christmas, Liam lost his job. And became himself again overnight. I could almost see the anxiety and worry and depression crackling all around him like an iceberg and then falling off. It was magical. (Him losing his job was all due to corporate politics and nothing to do with him, and over the last eight months or so he was treated quite horribly. I've wanted him to quit for ages (we have savings enough to be able to prioritize our mental health), but even I didn't know how much of his anxiety was due to his horrible situation at work. Turns out, almost all of it!)

I got my boyfriend back overnight, calm, relaxed, cheerful, present, and loving me again. Best Christmas present.

Here are some of the things I photographed in December:




Rimliga kvinnor gathered to make sweets (knäck och kola och sådana där sockergrejer med liten chokladplupp på).


I took Liam to church on first of Advent just for the cultural experience of it and because I love the hymns. :)



Traditional gingerbread baking with my mum - Liam's a big fan of proper Swedish gingerbread. I mean, who isn't?


Went to Liseberg with my crew, well one of my crews, I guess. It was a cold, crisp Saturday, perfect for Liseberg.



Mikaela bought a huge bag of candied almonds and required help to finish it. :)


Just look at these beautiful humans!




"I mean it's ... quite cliché, but ... they just do decorations so well here!", Lisa exclaims with delight.




Liam and I went to buy crisps for an evening in with a film, and I had trouble deciding between two flavours. "You're an adult, you can get both" was his comment. OMG, I'm an adult, I can get both! Because I get to make my own rules about what I eat! Amazing. So I did. :)


Tove came over for Sunday fika. <3


And speaking of fika, yes of course we had Advent fika in Utby - seventh year in a row now, I think. The fika table was LUSH.





It seems in my camera roll like we mostly spent time taking turns to wear this little gift diadem? :)


My choirs, my pride and joy, had their concerts - this is Popkören Vega. I love them and I love my job and I was so proud I could burst!


A walk in the woods to get some energy after a tired day at work.


Hot chocolate at Berzelii with my love.




Two days before Christmas we drove to Hindås to celebrate little Ella's first birthday (I guess second if the first birthday is when you're born ...?). It was a lovely day with good friends and good chats and good fika.


Another walk in the city to take care of some Christmas errands. And then Christmas happened, but I'll save that for another blog post. :)