Winter Is Here

Winter is here now, for real. Around -10 C, and a strong wind on top of that. The roads are icy and slippery with a deceitful layer of powdery snow on top. The wind also keeps whirling the snow around. Where I live it still isn't too bad because although it's been snowing on and off for three days now, it has been very small snowflakes, and we have only a thin layer on the ground so far. Reports on the radio tell me the traffic situation has been much worse on the East coast today. I have been out, twice even, because I had to - but it is no fun. The wind is bitter cold and blows right through you, and you (well, at least I!) can only walk in tiny little steps, looking down all the time to watch where you put your feet... Getting home, you find all kinds of muscles aching which you didn't even know you had!



Statues in the park, two days ago.

Snow in Santaland

Santa himself was not at home today, but Santaland (Tomteland) looked rather inviting anyway with freshly fallen snow on the ground and the trees and the roofs of the surrounding buildings.

It's time to post your Christmas cards, if you haven't done that yet! The red mailboxes are put up especially for Christmas cards within Sweden (for which there are special stamps printed; the postage is a little cheaper than for an ordinary letter - but not much).

The Ice Bear

Today I managed to get pictures of the finished ice sculpture. (See the artist in action in previous post). It is a polar bear with a little cub. The Swedish name for polar bear is isbjörn = ice bear.

We also have a thin layer of freshly fallen snow on the ground today. It is of the wet kind though so it might not last long.

Fire and Ice

Yesterday (Saturday) I did get myself into town to have a look at the Christmas Market. It was a good day for it since for a change the temperature was just below zero and it was not raining  - we even had a bit of sun for a while!

The snow in the picture above though was especially made or imported for Santaland - it has not been snowing in this part of the country! And the same goes for the ice block used to make an ice sculpture:

The sculpture was supposed to be a polar bear. The job was going to take several more hours to finish though, and I didn't have the stamina to hang around all that long! Today the temperature is above zero again with some rain - so it remains to be seen how long the sculpture will last...

Pre-Advent

Next Weekend is the first of the four Advent Sundays leading up to Christmas. I'm not sure how important the time of Advent is in other countries, but it Sweden it is Big. After dark, gloomy and usually rainy November, we are desperate for colour and lights and anything that brings a sense of warmth, and we make the most of it; the churches as well as the tradesmen and the media.

If you've been following my blog over the past month, you may remember that Halloween/ All Saints Day with us is a rather solemn holiday almost all about graveyard decorations...



... But the very day after All Saints Day, i.e. Sunday 1 November, this was what met my eye when I entered the supermarket:



I usually try to ignore these guys at least until a week or so before Christmas, but it's not easy - they're everywhere...

Preparations continue all around. November has become a sort of pre-advent to Advent. Last week, they put up the big Christmas tree in the town square:



Nice one this year, with a lot of cones:



The lights weren't put up in the tree yet when I was there with my camera (Friday).

This week I'm going to get wrapped up in preparations myself, because I too want everything to be ready before the 1st Advent weekend. Well - the things that in my opinion should be ready by then. That does not include full Christmas decorations, but it does include the window lights and Advent stars, and the lights on the balcony, and changing curtains in the kitchen and some table cloths, and the special Advent candle holder with four candles. (We light just one of them on the first Sunday, then two, then three, four.) Personally, I like the time of Advent more than the actual Christmas. Not too fond of the extra rush in the shops, but these days I don't have too many people to buy presents for. But I like the lights, and the hymns that are only played this time of year (played in church, or at home - not as background supermarket music...), and Christmas cards, and...

At the same time, this year, Christmas will be hard, because it will be another "first" traditional family holiday to get through without my mother (who died in May). Whatever we do to try to make it as normal as possible for my dad - it won't be normal.

PS. Tomorrow (Tuesday) there will be a somewhat unusual Christmas tree on show in my Picture Book.