A Very Karlsson Kristmas

This year we were lucky enough to have Mattias' sister and her family fly in from Sweden to celebrate Christmas with us.  The Ternholts arrived on the 23rd, just in time to celebrate on the 24th (when Swedes celebrate Christmas.)  The house was decorated with lights and hues of red, and smelled of gingerbread.  The kids kept busy and watched Julkalendrar.  This annual TV program has a matching advent calendar, and after watching the day's episode you get to open a window on the calendar.  Apparently all the kids in Sweden do it.


While the food was cooking the kids decorated a gingerbread house.












We also Skyped with Jonas, who had just finished an overnight surgery shift.  We even got an awesome tour of his and Lauren's loft in Chicago. They had 2 Christmas trees!









The table was set with traditional foods:  gravlax (cured salmon), sil (pickled herring), and most importantly Aquavit.

We also had some other traditional foods:  a ham, meatballs, a couple kinds of Swedish sausages, Janssons Frestelse (a potato gratin with anchovies), and Julmust.

The legendary lutefisk also made its appearance.  Some might have heard of the nastiness of this dried, then reconstituted fish dish.  But you have to try it to believe the hype.  Imagine hocking up some phlegm onto a plate, then cover said phlegm in a white sauce before serving.  Yum.

Besides some drama involving the kids and eating above fish dish, the meal was pleasant and delicious.

The huge pile of gifts was divied downstairs, where we spent the rest of the evening.

I think everyone got what they wished for this year.  And Linus had a blast opening gifts on others' behalf-- something I loved to do as a kid.

And what did Mattias and I get for each other?  A new car!  Since we will be moving to a house that's further away from Metro, I will have to drive to work starting in March.  We also wanted something a little bigger and safer for the kids, that's not a huge SUV.  Say hello to our new 2011 Subaru Outback :)  This is the very first brand new car that either of us has purchased/driven, so we are still giddy about the whole thing.