Life Down Under

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.....

Preparations are in full swing for Swedish Christmas Eve. It's been a family tradition since I was a kid, my mom being Swedish and all. It's one of those traditions that has lived on, and now Aaron and his family love the Swedish smorgasbord, too. For me, it just wouldn't be Christmas without it. So tomorrow night we'll have cheese and crackers, swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, peas, rice pudding, 2 types of Swedish bread, lingon berries, a jello salad, and swedish ginger cookies for dessert. Doing (our American version of) Swedish Christmas in New Zealand is comparable to making snow angels in the desert sand - it's not quite the same. But believe it or not, it can be done. Yes, Swedish Christmas lives on in New Zealand.

It even has started to feel a bit like Christmas today - probably because I was starting to do some of the cooking for tomorrow. It also helped that it's pretty cold outside - I even saw my breath tonight! Now that really makes it feel a bit more like Christmas! Nevermind the fact that tomrrow it's supposed to be 80.