"Jultiden i Sverige" Christmastime in Sweden

We have had a wonderful time enjoying the Christmas season in Sweden.  Rather than a lot of writing I am making the pictures do the talking.

"Jultomte" Christmas Elf dolls.
Common symbol of the Christmas giving
 and magic. The price tags are in Swedish Crowns.
 169 crowns equals about 26 dollars.

My two favorite Christmas Elves

"Luciadagen" celebration at a local elementary school. The
Festival of Light is held on December 13, and includes the singing of the famous song "Santa Lucia"

Tolley, Tolley, Beus, Sargent, Allen posing on the
streets of GamlaStan (the old city)  Elinkowski took
the picture.

I found this dangerous Viking Flicka on the streets of
GamlaStan.  She is actually quite friendly after you get to know her.

Wild monsters Allen, Beus, Sargent and Elinkowski all protecting the dangerous Viking Flicka.

We love being with the missionaries.  Beus and Elinkowski.

We have had several opportunities to assist in the teaching of
investigators and participate in the baptism of those who have
chosen to respond to the invitation to follow Jesus Christ.  This is "Irving", a
22 year old PhD student from China who was baptized just before Christmas.

"Jul Afton"  We were invited to spend Christmas Eve with a family and friends from our congregation in Jakobsberg.
The big Christmas celebration with meal and Santa Claus happens on Christmas Eve.  This family is originally from Brazil, but have lived in Sweden for 15 years.

Alberto and Gabriel. Two very fine young men
that we have adopted as our own.
 Their mother, Claudia, is
a very good friend of ours.

Santa Rodrigo even had presents
 for Sister Tolley.

Sister Tolley found a baby and enjoyed holding
her.  Down deep I think she was pretending to hold
her own granddaughter Jane, whom we have not yet
been able to meet personally.

We had a puzzle going at our
 apartment for several days.   Sisters Merrill
and Allan working on New Years Eve

Elders Sargent and Allen finished it on New Year's Day.
Disappointed when we found one piece missing.  We
later found the piece.
 

A group of missionaries went to the large Swedish Church
in Gamla Stan for a Luciadagen concert.

St., Klara Kyrka Stockholm

St. Klara Kyrka

Pizza before Christmas.  Elder Beus was transferred
to Göteborg just before Christmas.

Wendy loved this bear in a local mall

Swedish national costume.  Wendy wants one.

New Year's Eve

We had 13 young Sister missionaries at our home
on New Year's Eve. Sisters Clouse,  Eriksson,McCollaum,
Maxwell, Christison

Sisters Land and Kalt

Land, Kalt, Sjoblom, McCollaum,Clouse,Eriksson, Maxwell

Christmas lights along the way

As we traveled along we had opportunity to view some Christmas lights.  First Advent is kind of the kickoff to Christmas, and the lights began to appear the next day.  With the length of the night from 3 pm to 9am, it is wonderful to see the amount of lights showing up.

Bridge in Norrköping.  Mostly the lights are white.  The colored
lights are not common in Sweden.

and occasionally you get LOTS of color!!!

Next Stop: Kristianstad. Home of Wendy's FarMorsFarFar. Advent Concert

Some time ago while researching her family history, Wendy learned that her Great great great grandparents were Swedish, from the province of Skåne, and city called Kristianstad.  She was pretty excited to see that city, and our apartment work took us there from Jönköping the next day.  She wanted to go walking in one of the cemeteries there to see if she could find some Larssons or Nilssons, but I convinced her that it would not be very fruitful, since about half of the cemetary was Larsson, Nilsson or Svensson.  We checked into a hotel at the "Bishops Arms Hotel" and immediately took a walk to explore the city.

Another old hotel with lots of history.  Modern and  clean inside, and good food in the pub. (see below)

Swedish version of a "rack of ribs"  Notice the "rödbet sallad" (red beet salad)  It is quite common and very popular in Sweden.

Swedish fish and chips












Also, while in Kristianstad, it was "First Advent", celebrated on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.  Our hotel was just across the street from the big Svenska Kyrkan (Swedish Church - Lutheran) where we learned there would be choir concert that night.  We called up the Sister missionaries and the Elders that are serving in Kristianstad, and the 6 of us went to the concert in the big church there.

Svenska Kyrkan across the street.  Took
this picture out our Hotel room

First Advent choir concert was attended by almost a full house.  Swedes love to sing, generally, and choirs are highly respected.  This choir was very good and performed for about an hour.

Another trip through Southern Sweden. Hotels, Christmas concerts, and sights worth remembering

On the Road Again

The list of apartment repairs and furnishings needed took us on another long journey through the South and West Coasts of Sweden. We started the first night by heading to Jönköping, where we had a hard time finding a hotel since there was something happening that booked up all the usual hotels.  I finally ended up booking online with a relatively unknown hotel and when we got to Jönköping we learned that this place was about 5 miles from the city out in the country.  We finally found it in the dark, dark night, and that is when I learned that the word "Herrgård" in the Hotel name means "Mansion".  What a find!!  It was an old country estate that has been converted into a hotel and conference center, but still maintains the old 18th century feel inside,(with some modernization).  We spent a lovely evening there and explored the area the next morning before heading South..

Tokeryds Herrgård was a large mansion on a huge acreage with many farm workers and families serving the landowner.  It was converted to a conference center and maintains a wonderful feeling of old mixed with new.

A very comfortable, quiet and not so expensive place to stay just outside of Jönköping, Sweden.  We are going back!!!

Posting for those who know where Orton, Alberta is....

For the sake of those who are folliwng this blog, Orton, Alberta is where I (Warren) grew up, about 25 miles West of Lethbridge.  This post is to bring back old memories for those who lived there years ago.  Just down the road from our family farm was a family know as the Thelin family.  They moved away to Oregon years ago when I was still a young boy.  Now so many years later in Stockholm Sweden, we got a visit from Jay Thelin and his wife, who are serving as missionaries in the Finland mission.  They were in Stockholm to attend a meeting and came to look us up.  We spent a few hours together before they had to catch a ship across the Baltic Sea back to Helsinki.  It was fun to talk about old memories, although Jay is quite a bit older than I am.  A fun occasion to be noted.

Elder Jay Thelin, Sister Dana Thelin visited us in the Jakobsberg Chapel
after they attended a conference in Stockholm.  They are serving
as Young Single Adult missionaries in Finland.

Swedish American Thanksgiving with a few different trimmings.....

Guess who is cooking again?  Notice the
traditional Christmas Star in the window.

Ah yes, Thanksgiving time comes and the old question comes up again.....Do we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in October, American Thanksgiving in November, or Swedish Thanksgiving in......no wait....there IS NO SWEDISH THANKSGIVING DAY!!!!
Well Sister Tolley is not about to miss the opportunity to put on a feast for the missionaries and American Thanksgiving Day was coming up and was a good excuse to tie on the apron and get the flour and eggs out. We invited the four local missionaries and the Office couple (Lowrys) to come and partake in the good food, and they were all willing participants.

Elders Lowry, Sargent, Beus, Tolley, Sister Tolley, Elinkowsky and Allen

The "trimmings" were a little different than tradition would call for, since the Swedes do not consume much Turkey.  It was therefore difficult to find a turkey, and when we did find one it was very small and looked like a chicken with big drumsticks. It was also about 100 crowns per kilo (about 6 dollars per pound)  We decided not to have turkey, and switched to "Jul Skinka" (Christmas Ham) which is in abundance and much cheaper (about $1.39 per pound)

Ham, scalloped potatoes, brocolli salad, cornbread, sweet potatoes
peas, pickles and mustard.  Not your typical Thanksgiving fare, but
mmmmmmmmmmgood!

And of course we had to have pie!! and those wonderful rolls that somebody makes. (Wendy)

Yes, it looks like pumpkin, and it tastes like pumpkin, but
it is really CARROT PIE!!  Wendy loves to experiment and
nobody guessed it was not pumpkin.  Canned pumpkin is
not available in Sweden. Other pies are lemon and apple.

yes, they were as good as they look. butter, honey or jam.

And here is a look at the gang from the other end of the table.  A good time was had by all.

Sister Tolley, Elders Elinkowki and Allen, Sister and Elder Lowry, Elder Sargent, and Elder Beus.