Our ski passes and ski rental are valid for another day, and we could have gotten another good four of five hours of skiing in. But the weather is getting worse rather than better – even windier, even wetter – and it really isn’t looking the least bit tempting, so we’re packing up and driving home instead.

Adrian’s snowboarding technique is improving steadily, and is now actually better than his skiing, I think. He is faster and more stable on the skis, but pretty much just snow ploughs straight down, whereas on a snowboard he gets pretty nice curves in now.

Anyway, he was feeling confident enough that he and Eric also got onto blue slopes. The longest slope here in Stöten, “Mormors störtlopp”, is green and gentle one, and very nice if you want an easy and relaxed ride – as a skier. But the topmost bit is a long, flat, narrow section that is not at all good for snowboarders. Ingrid and I have had plenty of time to explore the pistes, and found a blue run that we thought would fit the snowboarders’ needs as well. So we could all go down together, for the first time this trip. Which was nice – and gave me great photo opportunities.








The weather was no better today than before. Still windy and with low clouds and lousy visibility at the top. Around lunchtime we got some sleet, and while that stopped for a while, it later came back as almost-rain.



Here we are, skiing and snowboarding in Stöten.

Adrian went straight to the snowboard option this year and managed it like a pro.

Ingrid wasn’t feeling a 100% so she took an easy day today and stuck to skis – and even went so far as to go down the blue pistes with me, instead of challenging herself on the red and black slopes.

Here’s Adrian gliding past our house in the background (and our car is also among the ones parked in the background). We could probably save money by living further away, but the convenience of being easy walking distance from the slopes is unbeatable. Someone feels tired and wants to go home early? Someone wants to sleep in and join us a bit later? No problem. No driving, no need to manage who’s where when.

Eric and Adrian stayed in the lower, broader, green slopes, while Ingrid and I took the big lift up to the top. This is her:

The weather conditions at the top were pretty bad, with low clouds and a fair bit of wind. At times it was difficult to see where the pistes even started. Aim between the neon orange sticks and assume that the piste will continue without any sudden changes, and hope for the best.


But there were beautiful views as well, and even the occasional moments of blue skies.


All knackered after hours of skiing:

Off for a half-week of skiing in Stöten. Today was mostly a day of driving, and then getting ourselves situated, picking up our skis, etc. I forgot to take a photo, so I’m borrowing this one from tomorrow morning. This is our small apartment in Stöten – a small kitchen/living room combo, and two small bedrooms with bunk beds. It’s OK, for a few days, but with last year’s stay in Kläppen fresh in our memories, this doesn’t really compare. The sofa in particular is uncomfortable no matter how we try to sit in it. But! We’re no more 50 metres from the nearest piste, which is worth quite a bit.

Christmas party with the extended Bergheden family.







We have a New Year’s tradition of watching fireworks from the flat roof of the newer half of our house. Twenty minutes before midnight it’s time to bring out the big ladder and then we take turns to climb up to the roof.

The roof is wide and flat – there’s plenty of space to walk around to get good views in all directions, without ever having to worry about getting too close to the edge.

There’s always plenty of fireworks to look at, near and far. Usually quite a lot quite near, even.

For the first time ever, Ingrid opted to go celebrate New Year’s Eve with her friends. Growing up! So we had to wish her a happy new year by text.

My brother came for a Christmas visit.

We played board games (Robo Rally),

… made pasta together,

… and crafted mince pies.

Christmas Day may be behind us, but it’s still Christmas, and mince pies are a must-have.

Christmas presents. And Christmas food. Not many photos of things happening because I mostly forgot about my camera.

We used to put Christmas gifts out under the tree the night before, both for the festive feeling and for the kids to go and poke and shake and wonder who would be getting what. With a cat in the house, that is not an option. Shiny paper, dangly ribbons, chewable boxes? Temptations, temptations everywhere. Now we had the gifts hidden away until just before opening time, and when that arrived, we shut Nysse in the bedroom. Adrian was disappointed, but what can you do.

Devilled eggs are our go-to festive lunch food. This time we made them extra festive, with “holly” decorations made of pomegranate seeds and parsley leaves, based on an idea that Ingrid found on TikTok. Served with Eric’s vörtbröd, three kinds of pickled herring (blackcurrant; sesame and wasabi; sour cream and fish roe) and a beetroot salad.

Ingrid was the mind and hands behind the most decorative part of Christmas dinner as well – a Pavlova wreath. Three kinds of cheese with biscuits and marmalade for starters; Hasselback potatoes, black bean “meatballs”, cranberry sauce and brussel sprouts for the main course; Christmas pudding for those who like that kind of thing.

Twice during the cooking and food prep I was caught out by using what seemed like risk-free substitutes.

For the beetroot salad, I bought pre-cooked beets to save time, instead of boiling them at home. Chopped them up, mixed with all the other things and the sour cream dressing – and the salad came out white. For the record, beetroot salad is NOT supposed to be white but violently purple. I don’t know what they did with the pre-cooked beets – peeled them before cooking, maybe – but clearly they lost all their colour. Luckily we had a jar of pickled beets in the fridge, so I used those to top up the salad and give it some colour at least.

For the cranberry sauce, there were no fresh cranberries to be had anywhere, so I bought frozen ones. I suspect the fresh ones that used to be available around Christmastime may have been of the American variety (so maybe they weren’t even sold for Christmas but for Thanksgiving and then afterwards as long as stocks lasted), whereas the frozen ones are definitely of Swedish origin. And clearly they behave differently when cooked. The fresh ones were rich in pectin, so the sauce thickens after cooking and cooling. The frozen ones clearly aren’t, because the sauce remained as runny as anything and I had to thicken it with cornstarch. Tasted delicious, though.