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Sunday, December 7, 2008

Christmas tree

It's been too long ago since I wrote on the blog, and I'm sorry about that. I have been busy! I thought that I would get time during desk duty on Thursday but I was involved with helping someone find old maps of Denmark in general and the island of Ven in particular. By "old" I mean 15th and 16th centuries. Back then Ven belonged to Denmark, now it belongs to Sweden. The world of old maps is fascinating and I tried to learn useful things from the map librarian while he was pointing out sources on the internet.

There have been a few meetings at work this past week, one more boring than the other. We managed to decide on a working schedule for this Christmas, and it will probably function unless someone gets sick. I will not get any extra vacation at all this holiday, but we will at least get five days off in a row (Dec 24-28). Also two days for New Year's.

Most of the evenings this past week I have been sitting like glued to the computer screen. I found a website with obituaries from a county in California where some Norra Strö people ended up (it's the Gustafsons for those who would know what I'm talking about). They had mostly daughters and their married names were often listed, so I have spent many hours searching these pages of obituaries. There were even clues to a sister going to Nevada. It's amazing how much family history information there is on the internet.

The Christmas spirit isn't really here yet, mainly because of the rainy weather. But I have decorated my apartment with all the ornaments that I have. The fake tree is also decorated and lit. (My father couldn't believe it when I said I have an artificial tree - he is a lumber jack and always gets a real one). The decorations in the tree come from several places, it's things I have bought at flea markets, inherited from my parents, bought in the US and things I used as decorations for the Leroy Anderson exhibits (small music instruments and bells)! I have also wrapped almost all the presents. I only have a few more gifts to purchase now, then I'm done.

Today I went by train to Kristianstad in the afternoon to attend the Christmas concert at the Holy Trinity Church. They had some sound problems (the orchestra drowned the choir), but it was still worth listening to. They played several Leroy Anderson pieces; Sleigh Ride, Song of Jupiter (arranged by L.A.), A Christmas Festival (arranged by L.A.), Syncopated Clock and I Never Know When. The first three were sung by parts of the Anderson choir that performed at the big concert in April. We also got to listen to more traditional Swedish Christmas songs like Lucia, Julen är här and När juldagsmorgon glimmar. We ended with unison singing of Stilla natt (Silent Night). Afterwards I had a falafel at a local pizza place with my mother (who had also been to the concert), and then I went back home by train.

I get messages to all of my email addresses, so I hope you are all able to reach me somehow. It's very frustrating when the email doesn't work properly.

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