I'm dreaming of a pink Christmas

With December quickly approaching I am now busy putting together everything I need for the perfect pink Christmas.

What I already have:

- a large, hot pink Christmas tree (210 cm)



- another, smaller Christmas tree (60 cm)



- 2 adventsljusstaker (traditional Swedish advent lights you put in the window)



- some Christmas tree decorations from last year, including a wonderfully tacky glittery white bird with feathers and sequins that I got from one of my colleagues

What I still need:

- many more wonderfully tacky Christmas tree decorations, such as these:



- an adventsstjärna (another traditional Swedish Christmas lamp you hang in the window)



- yet one more pink Christmas tree, this one even smaller than the ones I already own and made of feathers



I am sure that there's more. There's always more.
Pink is the new Christmas!

Babushka lamp

I saw this lamp in a magazine yesterday. My wishlist just keeps getting longer...

Meaty specialties

There is so much delicious German food that I can not get here in Sweden, especially various meat products.

Just take a look at these wonderful Mettbrötchen, for example:



Mmmmmh, Mettbrötchen...
For those wondering: Mett is raw minced pork meat. Yes, I said "raw", as in "fresh off the animal". Put it on a crisp roll, some fresh onion rings on top, maybe a hint of paprika and get in touch with your inner carnivore. It's pure meaty goodness.

I would also do just about anything to get my hands on some decent Bratwurst:



Dear people of Sweden, this is what real Bratwurst looks like and you might find that it does not resemble those pityful excuses for a sausage that you call Bratwurst at all. Real Bratwurst does not contain finely ground meat, it is chunky. And savoury. It does not taste like a miniature-sized falukorv. Oh, how I feel for all of you who will never know the difference...

Is there a way to improve the tasty dream that is the Bratwurst? Why, yes there is. Meet the Currywurst!



It is a Bratwurst in a tomato-curry sauce, usually served with fries and some mayonnaise on the side. Finding a place that makes really good Currywurst can be difficult. A lot of people make it easy for themselves by just using plain tomato sauce and putting some curry powder on top (and sometimes not even that), but a real Currywurst has to have a warm curry ketchup sauce. And mayonnaise to go with the fries of course. Hey, if you are already eating a Currywurst you can't be too concerned with your weight or health anyway.

Is it all meat, you ask? Do we live on pork alone? Well no, we eat lots of candy too, especially around Christmas. And I already have a whole long list waiting for you...

First snow of 2008

This is probably not the most spectacular news to end my month-long blog abstinence, but, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:

The first snow of 2008!



In November, that's right. Welcome to Sweden!

Kindergarten

Much earlier than expected we received a letter that Pontus will get a place in the kindergarten of our choice from beginning of December. We had applied very early because we thought that there was no way we would get a place right in time for his first birthday (which is the required minimum age to attend Kindergarten here), but they did the impossible. My husband had wanted to stay home with Pontus in December and January so we will have to discuss what we are going to do now: take the place but maybe only have him there for a little while every day or ask to be assigned another place later on.

I own a what?

If I wrote a post every time I find something in our household that I did not know we had or rediscover something that we haven't used for years in some dark corner, this blog would be one of the most updated worldwide. I seriously can't believe what kind of and especially how many things we have bought over the years. Whatever their original purpose was, their only function now is collecting dust.

There is, for example, the lint remover (noppborttagare) I discovered in a box in our walk-in closet. Why ever do we have a lint remover? For the many wool sweaters we don't own?



Another great example for a machine that is just too useful to ever actually be used is our hot dog maker. Yes, we own a hot dog maker. And it was me who bought it, when I was still living in Germany. For some reason the idea of buying a machine that would heat the sausages and the hot dog buns at the same time made perfect sense, even though I never liked hot dogs. The hot dog maker now is my husband's favourite. Not to make hot dogs, no - just to laugh about it and the fact that it was ME who bought the thing.


I could continue with this list for a very long time, but I must go now. I have to remove some lint and eat a hot dog or two. Why? Because I can!

Flavour combinations

I cooked potatoe soup today, but when it was time to eat the mere thought of it (especially in combination with the word "chunky") made me sick to my stomach, so the whole big bowl is now standing in our fridge. Instead I got the idea that I wanted to eat cucumber sallad with dill, like my grandmother used to make it. And Kellogg's Smacks. Unfortunately my husband had never heard of Kellogg's Smacks and some research on the internet showed that they are not sold in Sweden. Obviously, without the Kellogg's Smacks I didn't want the cucumber sallad anymore either. I mean, who would eat cucumber sallad without Kellogg's Smacks on the side? Seriously.
One less nightly trip to the supermarket for my husband...

Hungrilla & Hormonster

Hungrilla and Hormonster are the two predominant of my many personalities at the moment. They are my pregnancy personalities if you will.

Hungrilla is the indecisive one. She is hungrig (hungry) and illamående (nauseous) at the same time and never really knows which feeling to give in to. Hungrilla is a rather passive personality, but likes to complain about the dilemma she is in.

Hormonster on the other side is very hot-blooded. You do not want to breathe the wrong way, let alone say something stupid, in the presence of this hormonal monster. Hormonster's reactions can range from a look of pure contempt to a full-blown temper tantrum - the only thing that is sure is that nothing goes unpunished.

Anyone feel like hanging out with me? No?

Pink music

I feel like I really need the new Apple iPod Nano 16GB. Not as much in reality as in my head maybe, but who can blame me when it is just so damn pink?

The MP3 player I am using right now is a Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB. It is of course also pink and, above all, super small, but I think I am ready to take my pink music to the next level.

Blame it on the baby

I was wondering what would happen if we decided to take Pontus with us to the wedding after all and asked my husband if he had told the groom that we might bring a baby. Yes, he had and his cousin had told him that if Pontus started to scream or be noisy in the church, he should either make him be quiet or leave the church.
Now, I think everyone should have enough decency and common sense to understand that letting a child disturb any ceremony is not acceptable. But I think it is kind of harsh to basically be told to "make the baby shut up or get him out right away". The bride and groom to not have children (yet), so maybe they are not aware of the fact that babies do not have a snooze button. And they probably also don't understand how problematic it is to be standing around outside for a longer time with a small child in temperatures barely exceeding 10° C. I think they will have an insight or two once they have children themselves...

I suggested to my husband that we simply skip the ceremony, come to the church 5 minutes before it ends and then pretend that Pontus screamed so much that we never dared to go inside. Or say that he screamed so much at home that we simply couldn't leave when we should have.
It's not like I could not live without sitting through yet another wedding. And we could really use some extra time to get ready and into town. Right now we have a pretty tight schedule for the day - not going means another badly needed hour for us.
But my husband, a bad liar and thus always the honest one, does not want to do that. I say: if you need an excuse, just blame it on the baby! It is one of the perks of parenthood and I don't feel the least guilty about doing it. If I could just get my husband to understand that...