Favourite Christmas Candles.

Being far up in the North means way too little light comes December. Just this morning there was a discussion on the Danish television that any light, even candlelight, is beneficiary during the long, dark Scandinavian winter.
Well, I do not have to be told twice; every evening I lit several candles and here are a few favourite ones of mine.

"The Christmas Girl."

In my house, every year during the Christmas Holidays, a special statue of a young girl is always on display in my window. She is dressed in red and holds a basket of apples in one hand and a candle in the other. The girl is sculpted according to a well known Christmas drawing by a famous Swedish painter Carl Larsson, representing his daughter Brita.

This is indeed a very familiar and traditional image to all Swedes and the name of the drawing is "Brita As Idun". Idun is the name of a Goddess in the Norse Mythology, which is indicative off youth or the forever young, thus the apple symbolism. Brita as Idun can be found often depicted on Christmas cards and printed on table clothes and other fabrics. Or painted on china and made into pottery or small statues, such as the one in my possession.

I was given this "Christmas Girl" as gift about 7 years ago while spending Christmas with my parents in Sweden. On the day of Christmas Eve, while my mother stayed in to prepare dinner, my father, me, my sister and her husband went to a small pottery shop that was still open; it was magical to be there. My father bought two of these "Christmas Girls" statues; one for me and for my sister. He and my mother already had one themselves; that is where the inspiration originated the previous day.

The girl has since then become almost a family symbol of the holidays. Gazing at Brita while she smiles and holds a lit candle makes me feel closer to my family, which is spread all over Europe. It warms my heart knowing that my family members are perhaps, in the same moment, looking at the Christmas Girl as well.

"With Every Christmas Card I write..."

Another tradition day in my white house on the hill is on the 2nd of Advent, which is today. As soon as it gets dark, I lit the candles and my fireplace. In North Carolina I would drink some eggnog, but that I cannot purchase here, so I settle for a glass of hot spicy red vine (gløgg) and write Christmas cards while listening to my favorite Christmas music. Ok, I know this sounds so corny, please do not hate me, but I truly enjoy this little tradition of mine. And yes, I am one of those people who still write cards, even in the age of Internet and emails. I personally love receiving cards and I will never stop writing them. I appreciate that someone takes the time to sit down and writes me a few lines, wishing me wonderful holidays. I usually take this opportunity to write to friends and family, who I have not spoken with for a while, letting them know that despite the distance, they are in my thoughts.

St. Nicholas Day.

Today is Saint Nicholas day.
St. Nicholas, or Agios Nikolaos, was a Turkish saint and bishop. He had a reputation for secret gift giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and is now commonly identified with Santa Claus.
However, when I was growing up in Eastern Europe, St Nicholas day was celebrated independently of Christmas on the 6th of December. Gifts would have been delivered by Mikuláš, as St Nicholas was called in Slavic. He would be dressed as a bishop and would walk the street in company of an angel and a devil like creature.
This celebration is still very pronounced in central Europe and even though not celebrated in Scandinavia, I always think of presents comes the 6th of December.

As We Are Christmas Shopping...

Got this send to me recently and I cannot add much more than;
"Yes, that's about right!";)))

Orange Peels.

Oranges, tangerines and clementines are readily available in the winter and I always have some at home. They are loaded with vitamins and as I enjoy the taste, I can eat several at a time and bring them often to work as an afternoon snack. The other day, while peeling an orange I came to think about a bizarre, but interesting custom in my very past and decided to share it. Perhaps there is someone out there who can shed a light on what was actually going on.

As a child, I grew up in the communist part of Europe. Although there is a lot of negative things one can say about that regime and I would not wish it’s return ever again, I also have some fond memories from that time. Of course I was a child and grew up in a relatively carefree way.
Well, I recall that in school we were brought up in the spirit of recycling. Yes, I am fully aware of the irony in this, as I know for a fact that there were huge areas in the former Eastern block which did not give a damn about recycling or saving the environment. But, in school we had competitions about who could bring in more discarded paper or dried orange peels. Yes, we were collecting dried orange peels. Perhaps this shows my ignorance, but I have no idea why we did this and to what purpose. I only recall how we saved all the peels we could get our hands on as children, and believe me, oranges at that time were hard to come by. I remember having the peels spread all over the floor in mine and my sisters room, even on top of the heated radiators at home, just so that they would dry. Then we would pack them in paper or plastic bags and off we went to the recycling centers, set up in school, where the bags and containers were weighted.

I completely eliminated this memory from my mind until a few days ago. I think it is interesting how memory works and I wonder what triggered it, as I have been eating oranges for over 30 years since this memory took place. I tried to search the net in order to find any information about what the orange peel could possibly be used for, but no luck. Each search yielded in either baking recipes or tea preparation. A few sites in Slovak came up as apparently to this day, schools still arrange the "orange peel" recycling, but nowhere did I find any explanation why.

Well, perhaps I might never get to know - all I can do is to hope that I did perhaps contribute in a small way to something good.

My Fireplace.

I woke up to a really cold winter morning; subzero temperatures and frost. It would be a perfect day for curling up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate in front of my fireplace.
When I lived in North Carolina, I lived in a second story apartment with a large fireplace. I LOVED my fireplace. When I moved back to Europe, a fireplace was what I missed the most. Finally, after months, even years of thinking and planning, I had a fireplace built in December last year in my house. It was the best thing I ever did. Even though it was costly, the company I hired did an incredible job. It is almost a piece of art. It took them (2 professionals) no more than 2 days from start to finish. The final product is a fine example of German engineering (Spartherm) and Danish craftmenship. A combined fireplace - steel convection oven, it is a perfect addition in my airy, brick house; warm and very, VERY cosy.

Cool Tag.

While reading my favourite blogs recently, I stumbled upon a very appealing meme posted by Keera Ann Fox. She has been blogging since 2002, imagine that!:) As a matter of fact, I have seen this tag previously posted by the very hip Valentine and liked it already then very much. So this time around I tagged myself with this very cool tag. (With Keera's permission of course.:))
The tag simply means answering the following questions using only one word in the answer.
So, here we go:

1.) Where is your cell phone? — Table
2.) Where is your significant other? — Ireland
3.) Your hair color? — Black
4.) Your mother? — Spirited
5.) Your father? — Dreamer
6.) Your favorite thing? — Package(s)
7.) Your dream last night? — Risqué
8.) Your dream/goal? — Fulfilment
9.) The room you’re in? — Cosy
10.) Your hobby? — Creativity
11.) Your fear? — Deception
12.) Where do you want to be in 6 years? — Here
13.) Where were you last night? — Skype
14.) What you’re not? — False
15.) One of your wish-list items? — Children
16.) Where you grew up? — Sweden
17.) The last thing you did? — Shower
18.) What are you wearing? — Silk
19.) Your TV? — On
20.) Your pet? — Relaxing
21.) Your computer? — Working
22.) Your mood? — Passionate
23.) Missing someone? — Very
24.) Your car? — Green
25.) Something you’re not wearing? — Diamonds
26.) Favorite store? — Shoppit
27.) Your summer? — Short
28.) Love someone? — Endlessly
29.) Your favorite color? — Black
30.) When is the last time you laughed? — Today
31.) Last time you cried? — Recently

I am suppose to tag 5 people, but taking into account that I tagged myself voluntarily, the rules do not apply. Therefore, please, anyone who finds this interesting enough to post on their blogs, be my guests; consider yourselves tagged.;))

Calendar Candle.

Today is the start of the first winter month of this season. December comes from the Latin decem meaning ten, as it was originally the tenth month in the Roman calendar.
In Scandinavia the countdown to Christmas begins today. Lots of people lit their "kalenderlys", which in translation means, "calendar candle". The candle has numbers printed on it, from 1 to 24. One is suppose to burn one number each day until Christmas Eve. A tradition mostly for kids, nevertheless I have one every year, this one is no exception. So, here we go, burning down the number 1.