More snow - lets go down the slide!

Happy Times with Santa

Wild & Crazy on Christmas Eve

Please tilt your head as the video of Noah going down the slope is not upright.

Winter Wonderland!

The days leading up to Christmas have been very exciting. Santa or Tomten as he is called here, is expected to make an appearance tomorrow and Noah knows that he will knock on the door and bring him presents. As soon as Noah sees a pictures of Santa he knocks on the closest thing that's next to him and says "Tap" which is what he calls Tomten.

Also we are lucky to have snow. Noah, as you can imagine, loves it all. He eats it, plays in it, goes down the slopes and tries to walk in the deep snow. I myself haven't seen snow since I was 7 or 8 years old, so I enjoy it as much as Noah.

Even though I miss my family over the festive season, it truly feels like Christmas in this winter wonderland. The temperature got down to -17 on one particular day......that was uncomfortable. But for the most part it has been great to go out in -5 to -10 degrees to see the snow covering the roads, trees, cars and houses. It feels like something out of a fairy tale, I must say it is a very special feeling.

Once we have established ourselves in Sweden it will be hard to leave behind the snow of winter. Inside the comfort of the house we are warm and cosy, so its not so hard to admire the weather conditions outside and celebrate it by baking, drinking warm drinks, eating great food and sharing time with family. Next Christmas and December will be very different; we will both be working, Noah will be in day care, and less time to appreciate the atmosphere.

I'm sorry to say that I don't miss the 35+ degree heat, hot car seats, mountains of sunscreens and trying to escape the heat. The Swedes that prefer Australia over Sweden may be proven right in the future, but the novelty of our first white Christmas will not wear off for some time.........you're crazy to give this up!!

Here are some of our finer moments of the past few days......in the snow!

Christmas Market

In Götene, 6km from Lundsbrunn there was a Christmas market on the weekend with lots of fun to do for little kids. Big hits were the fire truck, the horses and the trainride around town...

Curious George in Town

This Sunday, one of Noah's favorite characters was visiting a shopping centre in Lidköping, a town about 16 km from Lundsbrunn. Mormor, Noah and I took the shopping list and drove over snowy landscapes to Lidköping to greet "Nicke Nyfiken" (the Swedish name for Curious George).

Nicke's first stop was a the shoe store where they also have a little play table for the kids. We came a bit early and Noah was happy to play and wait at the table. In fact, so happy that when Nicke finally came through the doors, whilst the other kids ran up to him, Noah leisurely sat put and continued to play - not at all interested in his furry friend.

Luckily, Nicke was staying for a while and after about 20 minutes, Noah finally warmed up to him. He walked up to the big monkey, gave him a high five, a big hug, smiled and said: "Nicke!". After that, it was only "Nicke, Nicke, Nicke!" and Noah followed him everywhere, gave him toys to play with and wanted to hug him all the time.

When it was time for Nicke to leave, to our surprise, Noah was happy to wave bye bye and to come with us for some grocery shopping. Having Noah with me, who is a real boy and doesn't likes shops, I would need Nicke to pop around every time we go shopping ;-).

All I want for Christmas is....SNOW!

The wish came true - it has been snowing for the past two days! Today it was enough snow to bring out the pulka; a short, low-slung small toboggan. Lets just say the sled was a big hit, with both the boys! Check out the video below!