Mer jul ge mig

give me more Christmas! Cause I love it! Mer Jul, is one of my favorite Swedish Christmas songs. It's a little creepy sounding, but it's so good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23gu1Oxw6gA

Give it a listen!

Today we decorated our fat Christmas tree! I've only had a real Christmas tree a few times in my life, and I really like having one. It's so fun to have a different shaped tree every year! Last year we had a pretty skinny tree, this year it's nice and fat!

Things are starting to get really Christmasy around here. The snow is falling, it's REALLY cold and the shortest day of the year is a few days away! The sun will go up around 9;30 and go down around 3 and the sun only goes a little bit above the horizon the whole day. It makes for a very short day!

This week we will celebrate Julafton (Christmas eve day) with Fredrik's family at his sister's new house. In Sweden, you celebrate on Julafton not Christmas day! It's weird, but just means we get to celebrate 2 days! And we get to eat a Julbord (Swedish Christmas table) and traditional American Christmas Day food! Of course, I always make Fredrik watch The Grinch on Christmas eve and A Christmas Story on Christmas day!

AND Friday at work went great! I got to know some of my fellow teachers and get to know the school a little bit better. We did a lot of lesson planning and I learned about some of the things they do in the school. There are so many interesting people working there! People from all over the world! Poland, China, England, Mexico, another American, a lot of Swedes and a lot of Swedes who have lived abroad. It's so interesting to met people who have experienced life aboard, as well! Hearing other peoples opinions about America is also an interesting thing. Most of the time it's pretty postive! Which is nice to hear, because as an American, we often hear a lot of crappy crap about our country!

I want to wish all my readers a HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEK! This is one of the best weeks of the year! Leading up to Christmas is almost better than Christmas itself. It's such a great time to smile a little extra, hug your hubby a little more, appreciate what you have and be excited for what you might get! It also is a time for me to REALLY appreciate my home and my family. I miss them so much, so so very much!

The Swedish word of the day is 'familj' which means 'family' and is almost like we pronounce it! Faimly is universal. :)