homeward bound

So, I've finally landed on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. It's quite odd being back home, although I haven't been home home, yet. I'm still at my big brother's place in Stockholm, and will be driving up with him, his girlfriend and my beautiful almost-one-year-old niece Milou whom I've had the privilege to meet at last. I baby-sat her last night when my brother had a meeting. She's a doll, for real. So social and adorable and plain (relatively) flawless by baby standards. We hit it off instantly, thanks to said social skills on her part, which counter-balanced the lack there-of on mine...

It's really nice being in Sweden again, though. Especially this time of year. And I don't been to sound snobbish or anything, although when it comes to this subject matter, I'm sure I am, but the north american take on christmas decorations... I'm sorry, but it's just too tacky for my taste. Here, you don't see any multi-coloured, over-sized, blinking (oh my goodness, the blinking!) christmas lights where-ever you turn or any creepy, flourescently lit plastic santa claus models or huge snowglobes (I swear, I saw one, on someone's front lawn, it was almost bigger than their porch!) Here, christmas lights are either golden yellow or snowy white, the bulbs in modest sizes and unblinking and delicately strewn across balcony railings and tree tops so as to resemble fallen stars which has stuck to the branches as opposed to... I don't know what! I can't think of any analogy, there's just no comparison on this whole earth!

Stockholm has yet to be covered in snow, though. So it doesn't quite feel like christmas yet. But I'm sure we'll have a white christmas, we always do in the end.

I've talked to my family and my best friend on the phone several times already and today I called my dear friend Ann-sofie who lives here in Stockholm and we decided to possibly meet for coffee tomorrow adternoon and then on friday evening she invited me over to her and her husbands flat for a big family dinner, all her children but one daughter will be there with their respective families, so that will probably be nice. (she said she considered me her fourth child!)

My brother and niece are home again, so I should probably go and be social. And maybe help prepare lunch (the whole routine things is apparantly huge when you're dealing with kids!)