Doug and I are traveling into the Chicago area for Christmas. We'd love to see as many folks as possible. We both arrive in late afternoon of Saturday Dec. 23rd but we have different departure dates. Doug's leaving on the 31st of December and I'll be leaving on the 10th. There's 2 groups of folks that hang out quite a bit and I'd love to swing them and help arrange something. Ladies' night and Check Please.As for other news, I do have some more, but I'll wait a little for the holidays to share it. As for Lund, Sweden, the holidays are closing in and St. Lucia will be celebrated next week. The holiday originated in Spain or Italy but the Swedes have totally adopted it. You may be familiar with the little girls that wear white dresses, red sash belts and wreaths/crowns with candles in them. (I can't help but think about the fire hazard) None the less, it's such a huge tradition here and stems back to the 1700s when time was evaluated a little weird I guess. They thought the 13th was the darkest day of the year, so that's when the "festival" takes place. As a big celebration to welcome more light to the world.
Treats that are festive and very popular are saffron breads with raisins in them called lussekatter, pepparkakor - a thin gingerbread type cookie... a lot like the thin Annas cookies you can find in supermarkets or IKEA and they definitely have the Swedish flag on the box, and glögg - a dark spice seasoned alcoholic beverage served warm.We're going to have a pot-luck little party on Wednesday to celebrate St. Lucia Day in our class. Children will be coming through our adult education school to sing the Lucia songs as well. So, I'm meeting up with my new British friend to make the lussekatter. Way yum! (She makes them almost weekly, so I'm quite familar with them now.)
Swedish is going really well. I've started to get a clear handle on basic grammer and verbs and sentence structure. So, my writing skills in swedish have vastly improved. My speaking skills are a little on the slow side, but no worse than anybody else in my class, really when it comes down to it. Doug's been the best coach too.
Well, anyhoo, I'm working on a few Christmas presents for my grandmas, so I best be off. Talk with you soon. I'm thinking about a New Year's resolution of writing at least weekly to y'all. What d'ya think?
