Dag 360: Crunchy Snow

Merry American Christmas! Since Swedes celebrate on Christmas Eve, what does one do in Sweden on Christmas Day? As little as possible. We lazed around in bed and in our pajamas until around noon, which was really nice. Eventually we took showers and then rested some more because it was so "strenuous." A short while later we had fika with my husband's parents: coffee and a lovely mixture of homemade and store-bought cookies, chocolates, and clementines. Then before the sun made its trajectory toward the horizon, we went out for a long walk.

The temperature outside was much warmer than on Sunday, when we had our blanketing of snow just in time for a white Christmas, and it had already begun to melt in patches here and there. Overnight the patches of snow and slush froze again creating the most wonderful crunchy sound as we walked and crunched through it. It reminded me of the sound of crunching leaves in the later part of autumn, after the leaves have fallen and had time to dry to a nice crisp. The brittle crisp crunch of the leaves under foot makes me giddy like a kid.

Today's crunchy snow had the same effect. At one point I found myself seeking out the crunchy parts and walking off path just to hear the crunch. I don't know what it is about the sensation and sound of crunching leaves or snow under foot but I really love it. I guess it is the same sensation one gets when popping bubble wrap. It just makes you happy. When my cousin lived out of state at one time my aunt would mail him care packages that included some sheets of bubble wrap for him to pop. I can't imagine someone mailing me crunchy leaves, and especially not icy, brittle snow, just to relive the sounds but being outside with only the sounds of crunching leaves or snow around seems to work magic in soothing my soul.

Hope you had a magical Christmas Day filled with thankfulness and joy!

Ps. I hear Dallas, Texas is getting a white Christmas as I write this! Wonderful!

Day 359: A White Christmas

In Texas it isn't so common to have a white Christmas. In fact, there is only one Christmas during my lifetime thus far when there was snow in Texas on Christmas Day. I still remember it vividly. I was at my brother's house and his youngest son at the time was beside himself excited. We had barely woken up and we were throwing on clothes and bundling up to run outside before it was gone. After running through the yard having snowball fights, my youngest nephew and I decided to go for a walk. He was pretty little but I don't remember exactly how old he was. Let's just say he was young enough that the notion of yard boundaries wasn't fixed in his little mind yet. We passed by one of the neighbors yards that had a snow man as big as my nephew and he took off running toward it. You have to react quickly when they are that age and luckily I reached him before he reached the snowman. It was terribly cute but a bit difficult to explain to his young mind that we couldn't take the snow from their snowman. To him, all of the snow was his.

It is so rare to even get snow in Texas and to have it, what little there was and so fleeting at that, on Christmas Day was a special treat. My nephew and I made our own miniature snowman back at home, complete with eyes, nose, mouth, buttons down his front, a hat made of leaves, twigs for arms, and a real candy cane. What a fun morning and wonderful memory. Today here in Sweden the snow is too dry to even form into a snowball but it is equally fun to throw a handful on someone (my husband).

A couple of years ago we had a particularly cold and snowy winter here and while we were visiting my husbands parents one weekend we helped shovel snow from the driveway as well as the roof over the garage. There was so much snow that a huge mound was created on one side of the driveway. My husband was up on the roof of the garage and asked me to video tape him, as he wanted to show me something he used to do as a kid. He walked to the middle of the roof while he was telling me the story and then all of a sudden he jumped down into the snow pile. We laughed and laughed and he was nearly covered from head to toe in snow. After brushing him off as well as we could we hurried inside to drink something warm.

I often think about how much fun my nephews would have in all of the snow here in Sweden. There is plenty to go around for everyone to build their very own, life-size snowmen and plenty of hot chocolate to warm us up afterward.

Wishing you all a Merry White Christmas Eve from Sweden!