...or Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I do apologize for taking so long to post. I figured the last time I posted was December 9th, and with today being January 8th I'd better post before it officially was a month since I last posted.
What all has happened? Well I didn't post anymore in December because life simply got too busy! We were super short handed at work (remember, I work for Bring Citymail) so I was working full time and even some overtime up through the 21st of December. I have no complaints - as stated before, I still love my job! I'll be extra happy next week when I receive my paycheck for the month. I believe it'll be my best one yet. The only bad thing about my job is that it isn't actually a full time job, I'm just a sub, I guess you could call it. I work hourly, and only when they need someone. Lately, they have needed me pretty much every day. What's more, I have good news! Starting later this month and going through until the 1st of March I have a vikariat, or substitute, position for someone who will be gone. That means I basically replace them in their full time duties. I will receive, gasp, an actual month's salary for the first time since moving to Sweden. I've been making money for quite some time now, but I've never been paid a month's salary. The downside: it ends on March 1st and so I will go back to my normal position of just being an hourly sub. Oh well, let's hope more substitute positions show up in my future.
For Christmas J and I headed out to Tibro to stay with his parents for a few days. J's sister and her family stayed the same amount of time we did. So it was a nice, relaxing few days of just family time. What is even better, we had a super white Christmas! It snowed on the 23rd just after we arrived, and then again I think on the night of the 24th it snowed again. It was great! It started melting on the drive back home on the 26th so it all worked out perfectly. I'm sad to report that I didn't take any pictures over Christmas. I know, for shame, for shame. We did all the Swedish Christmasy stuff though like decorating the tree on the evening of the 23rd. Then on the 24th we got up and had a nice breakfast, ate a giant julbord around 2pm and finished eating just in time to sit down with the kids and watch Kalle Anka (that's Donald Duck) at 3pm. They play a mix and match of really old Disney clips, several including Donald Duck. It's national tradition here in Sweden for the country to sit down and watch it at 3pm. After that Jultomten (or Santa Claus) came by and handed out a bunch of gifts. Then later we had leftovers from the julbord and of course risgröt (or rice porridge) with cinnamon. It's a Christmas classic here.
This year, instead of all the adults getting gifts for everyone, we decided to play a swap game instead. Each person bought a gift, wrapped it, and kept it secret from everyone else as to what it was. Everyone got assigned a random number, opened his/her gift and then the game ensued. To make a long story short we played a swapping game based on the roll of a die and I think everyone ended up happy! There were 8 of us so it wasn't chaotic. I ended up with an ice cream maker machine (which I actually bought, as well as J's mom and sister! So there were 3 overall). I didn't end up with my own machine though, so there was that. J and I have already made 2 batches of chocolate ice cream and it is sooo good! I doubt I'll buy ice cream anytime soon as it is so incredibly simple to make and far more delicious than store bought. As for J's gift, he received some nice crystal long drink glasses. He gladly used them for the first time on New Year's Eve.
Speaking of NYE, my good friend M and her man were in Gothenburg for the holidays so we decided that we would have the 2 of them over that evening for some nice appetizers (turned out to be a mealsworth) and some fun games. It was a blast! They printed out their own version of Cards Against Humanity and it was so incredibly fun to play. We did not stop laughing the entire probably 2 hours that we played it. My face hurt from smiling and laughing by the end of it. I definitely recommend it as a party game for adults! We ended the night by meeting up with a couple of Swedish friends at the Hard Rock Cafe downtown. The one thing that bummed me out that night was that the cafe didn't have a countdown! Either that, or somehow we missed it. There are several levels at this one, but most were closed so we were in the most populated area. Maybe Hard Rock figured they were too cool to have a silly countdown. In any case, the evening was a blast, and it was great to see some good friends.
And here we are! I worked 3 days last week and am working again this week, so it's back to the grindstone for me. J technically has off from December 21st to January 14th since he had a lot of vacation days to take out. He has, however, worked here and there since he is so needed at his job. Tomorrow he is even going to a meeting. I keep booing the fact that he's working when he should be on vacation, but only because he truly works so hard all the time.
I'll try to write more often, that will be my blogly (made up, yes I know) New Year's resolution. Write more often!
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