What can I say? I found it mysteriously in my bag when I came home from shopping.



I admit that I DID spot little Seymour when I passed through centrum, sitting forlornly in the window and calling out my name. But I was strong. I resisted. "Not for very long" said Lars-Göran, who seems to be under the impression that because I knew the little moose's name that we were already acquainted. It was then that I resorted to the tried and true "But daddy, what could I do? He just followed me home!", which still failed to convince him that I didn't deliberately go into the shop and buy the candle holder. Anyway, as there is no receipt to be found, he gets to stay and brighten up the winter for me.

Today is officially the first day of winter as yesterday was the winter solstice, meaning that it was the shortest day of the year. Yay! By this evening, winter is half-over and the days will begin to lengthen in the northern hemisphere once more!

Sailng weather is coming back! But not just yet.......



In Nynäshamn today the sun rose at 9.08am and set at 2.49pm - that's 5 hours and 41 minutes of semi-daylight. Exactly one second longer than yesterday. Maybe nothing to get overly excited about, but at least it is heading in the right direction. As I told Lars-Göran, it could have been worse. If we lived way up north in the country like my Australian friend Sharon (who lives in Kiruna) there would be no daylight today at all. How do they survive? And a little further south in Bureå, there is a total of 41 minutes of daylight today (sunrise 11.15am, sunset 11.51am. Now you know why they call that area The Vodka Belt.

In the Viking era, this time of the year used to be marked by enormous mid winter feasts or sacrifices (Midvinterblot). There was a belief that unless appropriate homage was paid to the gods, the sun would not return. When you live in these high latitudes and experience the enormous contrast between mid summer and mid winter, you can well believe that there is some magic involved in the process. These feasts went on for days and days, with animals killed then roasted over enormous fires and eaten communally. There was also apparently a cycle every nine years where humans were sacrificed, as depicted in Carl Larsson's amazing oil painting, now displayed in the National Gallery in Stockholm.



The subject of this highly contoversial painting depicts King Domalde in front of the temple in Uppsala, about to sacrifice himself in the belief that this selfless act will bring greater future harvests and general well-being to his people. The story is attributed to Adam of Bremen, a chronicler who lived in the 12th century. This has been hotly debated among historians and no clear answers have been found.

But this dark time of the year has a special feeling even today and Swedes keep many candles burning to ward off the darkness. We are no exception.



Oh look... is that Seymour in the bottom left hand corner doing his bit to lighten our day?

I've been busy today making knäck, wrapping gifts and trying to think of decent rhymes for the Christmas gift tags. It's not easy to write a funny yet cryptic message hinting at what the gift is - in Swedish! Our family really like these so called julrim and I think they add a bit of fun to gift giving. But my brain really hurts at the moment.

I saw this story the other day and it made me smile: Christmas Home for Garden Gnomes? I hope all the little guys are happy in their new home.

I'll leave you with another Christmas quiz as I preapre to get out our own tree all ready to be put up tomorrow.

You Are a Bright Christmas Tree

For you, the holidays are all about fun and seasonal favorites. You are into all things Christmas, even if they're a little tacky.