God Jul to all of my readers who celebrate it. To those of you who celebrate proximate holidays, merry ... those. And to those who celebrate nothing at all, well, here's hoping you make it through the season with your sanity intact.




I wish we had the pretty snow scene featured above, but it is just a leaden grey sky and cold. In an hour, we'll be packing up the hired car with dog, food and presents for the family and heading to Huddinge (a southern suburb of Stockholm) for Christmas Eve.

There will family and food and presents. Of these the most important for me is family. We will all gather to watch Kalle Anka, visit farfar's grave, enjoy a huge meal together, wait for Santa to arrive and most importantly, share laughter and good times.

This is how our Christmas Eve is always spent when we are all together and even though I know how the day will pan out in advance, I still looking forward to having everyone together at the same time. It will be noisy, chaotic and lots of fun.

My Christmas wish this year for my family is peace, happiness and not a few laughs.

My Christmas wish for you, and yours: May your festive season, however you celebrate it, be peaceful, happy and safe.

Happy Christmas/Holidays/Solstice all.