Monday, January 6, 2014

FINALLY, an update! Christmas in Sweden

Hey guys,

So, I don't even know how long it's been since I last posted on here (2 weeks? 3 weeks?) but I'm finally back and ready to get back into the swing of things with this bad boy. I got home from Sweden last Thursday night, but have just been feeling a little down missing my boyfriend after an amazing week together and just haven't had the headspace available to sit down and write what I know is going to be an extremely long post haha. So please forgive me! But here I am, so let's get to it.

My holidays started on December 23rd, when I drove with my grandparents to Hannover to see the rest of my family who live there. It was great to see my cousins who I don't usually get to see (Hannover is about a 2 hour drive from Bremerhaven) and spend time with my aunt and uncle, whom I adore. We were there for 2 days, and even though I was happy to see everyone, I have to also admit to having been terribly homesick. Seeing all of my cousins together just made me miss my sister and brothers tremendously, and I missed my parents a lot, too. So while I was happy, I was also a bit sad and kind of out of the christmas mood. I got some great gifts though, but I'll include them in my haul in the next post :D

In Germany, "real" Christmas doesn't fall on the 25th like in the states; they mainly celebrate 'heilige Abend' on the 24th, which is when everyone opens their gifts, you have a big family meal, etc. So we didn't head home until the 25th, which is when I saw the rest of my family back in Bremerhaven and we did our little secret santa gift exchange--30 euros for H&M woohoo! got my eyes on these bad boys: awesome boots from h&m


Anyway, then on the 26th I flew to Sweden to spend a week with my boyfriend and his family on their farm. Words cannot describe how much fun I had there. I'd been once before, for a mini weekend trip the first time I visited Sweden in September, but spending a whole week there was really just a gift. Martin and I stayed in this adorable little cabin on the farm, so we had our privacy and even our own christmas tree :D We decorated the cabin in these adorable swedish decorations his parents gave us, and it was so cozy. It was also freezing, so Martin had to build a fire in the fireplace a couple times a day, but totally worth it.

AND THE FOOD. Martin's mom is an amazing cook (actually, so is Martin and his brother David) and to say I ate my body weight in food is an understatement. Well, I tried, anyway. Everything was so delicious, and we even had some homemade swedish snacks and some homemade sweet potato pie that Martin and I made. (His dad kept calling it American pie and it was so cute :)) Everyone liked it, and it was really nice to have a little slice of home in Sweden.

Martin got me some makeup and jewelry...and clothes for Christmas haha because I'm spoiled..or because he's a good boyfriend. Or maybe both. And those will also be included in the haul that I will try to have up by Wednesday at the latest. (Not sure if I'll do photos or video yet).

Every night Martin and I had to pick something to watch before bed, and one night we marathoned the first season of Brooklyn nine-nine, which I highly recommend to any and everyone because it's super funny. We also ended up watching some scary movies--Open grave, Insidious and Insidious 2 (the latter two had me terrified and following martin everywhere he went so I wouldn't be alone haha). I really think I love scary movies until I watch them--then I remember that I can never sleep afterwards and am scared for the next 2 days. It didn't help that right after the movie a deer started barking (yes, barking, I thought it was a dog) outside and scared the sh*t out of me.

All in all, I had a really great time, and it helped to ease some of the homesickness I'd been feeling. So Thank you Mart for my second Christmas =)

And now, a ridiculous amount of photos for your guys! Enjoy :p

chokladbollar!

Tessy

baby pancakes

knäck

baby martin

making sweet potato pie :D

wine by the fireplace

swedish meatballs!

men in black

NYE dinner.. bacon-wrapped chicken stuffed with feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes

making candles :D one of my favorite parts of visiting the farm

our christmas tree!

with my finished candles 



Hope this wasn't too long!
cya soon,

expat




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