Christmas!

It is no surprise that I had a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Christmas in Sweden! It was really great, even though there was no snow in sight.

Christmas or "Jul" in Sweden is Celebrated on December 24 (or Christmas Eve). My mom, Moni, explained to me that it was because Santa (Tomten) lives in Sweden, and has to get to the rest of the world, he starts in Sweden on the 24th and then heads on to the rest of the world to give out gifts for the 25th of December.

We woke up, and in Sweden, Christmas is a day to get dressed up. My mom was dressed in traditional Swedish clothes from the north. The Christmas celebration started with a Traditional Swedish Christmas Board at around 1. The meal consisted of: pickled hearing, pattiet, ham, meatballs, small sausages, potatoes, and much more.

Ham, with  pattiet in the background

After the large meal, we sat and talked, and then took a fika, with many different goodies. After fika, Tomten came and brought presents. Each present had a rhyme on it to clue what was inside. I got books on Sweden, and a Swedish cook book. I got things to make gingerbread with, a warm fur hat, and traditional Swedish mittins and socks. 

After fika, the traditional Swedish thing is rice pudding. My siblings and mother had rice pudding, but I dont like it so much, so I had a sandwich with left overs from dinner. After all of this Movies were watched, and just hung out together. 

All in all, it was a fantastic Christmas, one that I will never forget!

Christmas  tree