Christmas celebration

The Christmas celebration was of the nice and family-oriented kind. Great to get a break from the usual routine and do something else. Although I can't say we have done much else than eating and talking. The food was traditional, with some vegetarian alternatives. Ham, salmon, herring (several kinds), Jansson's temptation, meatballs, homebaked bread, cheese (several kinds) and other things. Santa visited just after dinner, and the three present kids were rather excited. They all got lots of gifts, and John was especially happy about the big rescue helicopter and the airplane (both more than half a meter long). He also got a Batman-suit, which he liked very much. It was difficult to get him to take it off at bedtime.

Even though I hadn't come up with a wish-list I also got gifts: a wooden fruitbowl, two red santas to hang in the tree (made by John), necklace (made by my mother), tea, chocolate (which I am eating right now - tasty!), a gift certificate for a spa treatment, a red knitted scarf, two pairs of pants, and a blouse that unfortunately was too small. The blouse was exchanged at the after-Christmas sale for two other tops. Apart from that, I didn't shop that much at the sale (only one more top in another store). My mother is an expert in the area of second hand stores, and she had found an outlet store that sold last year's collection for an underwear catalog company. It's a high quality brand, and we both shopped underwear there very cheaply (about one fifth of the original price)!

Sunday evening I returned home by train (three different ones - all of them on time)! The snow was all gone in Skåne. Today there were some book requests, but not that many. Since it was fairly slow, I took the opportunity to bring the newest employee on the storage round. We retrieved books at three of them and we just barely made it back before noon. It was great to have an assistant, because he is taller than I and could reach one shelf higher (I have to use a ladder to reach the highest shelves). He was also persuaded to load and unload the crates from the car. My back is a lot better, but I didn't want to lift more than necessary.

On the way home today I went grocery shopping and noticed that the Christmas ham was sold for half price. Very affordable, so I bought one and have roasted it in the oven. I will use it to have on sandwiches and for lunches.

Thank you for the Christmas cards and e-mail greetings I have received!!! It's great to get up-dates from all of you and to know that some try to keep the Swedish traditions alive!