It's Christmas Time!!!

     I have had the pleasure of taking part in many different Swedish Christmas festivities. Here are all the ways that I have been getting into the Christmas spirit!

     December 13^th is Sankta Lucia day in Sweden. I am not really sure why the Swede’s, and Scandinavian’s in general, celebrate this holiday as Saint Lucy is from Italy. I have asked some Swede’s about Saint Lucy and why they celebrate the holiday, but none of them have really given me an answer. Here is an article with a little more information on Saint Lucy, http://cyberbrethren.com/2011/12/13/commemoration-of-st-lucia-martyr-antidote-to-holiday-escapism/#comments.

Lucia bread with saffron and raisins.

     On December 14^th, I went ice-skating! I love going ice-skating, but this time was different. Every time I have been ice-skating before everyone just skates around the rink in a big oval. This time it was just a free for all! There were hockey games going on, and people just skating every which way. It was a lot of fun to be able to just skate wherever I wanted. I once again attempted to learn to skate backwards, but once again I had no success!

Me, Selma, and Meghan.

Me attempting to play hockey.

     I baked candy cane cookies on December 16^th. My mom makes them every year so this year I made my own. They are sooo yummy! I shared them with the rest of the team, and they all enjoyed them too.

     On December 17^th, we had a team Christmas party. There was good food, good company, and some funny games! We played a challenge game that was everyone at the party versus our two coaches. The challenges included flipping a cookie in your mouth, putting the Elitserien hockey teams in order, naming the Swedish counties, picking out a missing item, and smashing cookies between your butt cheeks! Everyone was laughing the whole time. It was really nice to meet some of the people on the board who support us. My favorite moment of the night was talking with a lady on the board. She told me, “It’s good for me to speak in English because it’s the only time when I think before I speak!” I was cracking up!!! The more I talked with her the more I realized that she didn’t think that much before speaking in English either. She had me laughing all night.

     December 18^th, I went to a Christmas concert at a church. It was really nice, but it was not what I expected. I expected it to be Christmas songs about Jesus, but there were only a few Christian songs during the 2-hour concert. They did sing a lot of songs in English, which was really awesome! I sang along with all of the English songs. The biggest surprise of the concert was that they sang Fairytale of New York. They sang it in Swedish so I am not sure if they sang a different version than I know, but the version that I know goes “You’re a bum. You’re a punk. You’re an old slut on junk. Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed. You scumbag. You maggot. You cheap lousy faggot. Happy Christmas your arse I pray God it’s our last.” Needless to say, my jaw dropped when they sang this song! One of my teammate’s, Emma, also sang in the concert. She did a great job!!!

     After the concert, we went over to Linn’s, another teammate, parent’s house for a Swedish Julbord, or Christmas table/dinner. It was delicious!!!

The cold table: ham, some kind of calve meat, sausage, salmon, liver pate, deviled eggs, and herring!

The different cheeses.

The hot food: little hotdogs, meatballs, and janssons frestelse which is a potato and anchovy dish.

Julöl, Christmas beer. yummm

Swedish tradition of taking a shot of vodka and chasing it with piece of herring

     We haven’t had much snow this winter. It has been snowing all day though today! Snow really helps to get me in the Christmas mood.

I love the 'presents' under the tree, aka hay-bails.

     Tomorrow, I leave for a week Christmas vacation. My first stop is Holland. I will be visiting my friends Arjen, Thijs, Ellen, and Ellen. I am sooo excited to see them! They are all from Holland, but they come work our Illinois volleyball summer camps. I will definitely be posting more later about my Dutch Christmas experiences! Early morning on December 26^th, I am taking a train to Paris, France. There I will be meeting up with my really good friend from Illinois, Mike, and his family. I am also very excited to see them too! I miss my friends so much, and I can’t wait to see some of them! Of course, I wish I could be with my family for Christmas, but visiting some of my friends will still be awesome! :)

Merry Christmas!!!