I had a great Christmas and New Year’s. For Christmas I visited Laura and her family in Sweden. They were super nice, as always, and I enjoyed playing with her kids, eating lots of good food, seeing snow every day, learning about and appreciating Swedish traditions, and being with such a great friend that I have known forever. Thanks a lot Laura – it meant a lot to me to be with good friends at Christmastime and to be so welcome. I missed my family and missed being able to see them and to be with them but this was a very good second.
I went into Stockholm one day and braved the cold and snow to visit the Skansen – a park/zoo that has old buildings and is modelled after an old Swedish 1800s town. It was beautiful and there were lots of Christmas displays. Some Swedish Christmas traditions – gingerbread cookies (mmmm), pigs, mandarins, stars, candle-lights in every window, gnomes. Even though it was only light for about 6 hours during the day – with all the Christmas house and window lights and street lights, it almost seemed brighter and night with the glow and reflection off of the snow. I don’t know – maybe I could live in the snow (it is beautiful and even better when you rarely have to leave the house).
I flew back to Florence on New Year’s Eve and welcomed in the New Year with friends here. There were lots of fireworks and firecrackers and a huge mass of people converged at the station to watch and hear the band. My friend lives right next to the station so we got to watch it all from her balcony and stay safe from all the crazy firework maniacs. We ate lots of good food, dances and had a good time.
So welcome 2011! It should be a good year with good friends, travel, teaching, and lots of new things to learn and experience.
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