Making Christmas cards for friends and family. Last minute, as usual.

Opening advent calendars.

We have a multitude of calendars. A bit too many, in my opinion, but hey, it’s not me who needs to keep up with them all.

We begin the day by listening to the radio calendar in bed. The alarms go off, Ingrid comes to our bedroom and pokes at Adrian, and they both come into our bed. The story this year (“Marvinter”, roughly “Nightmare Christmas”) is interesting and the voice acting is good, so we all enjoy it. Plus it’s a nice way to wake – I’m barely awake at the beginning, and mostly OK with getting up by the end of the 10 minutes it takes.

The TV calendar (“Jakten på tidskristallen”, “The hunt for the time crystal”) got good reviews but I really disliked it and didn’t even want to watch it to keep the kids company. The story is silly but I could live with that, but I cannot stand the mannered acting that makes several key characters come across as caricatures rather than actual people. Adrian watches it at school; Ingrid has given up on it.

Both the radio and TV calendars have an accompanying cardboard “open the flap” calendar. In addition, Ingrid drew “open the flap” calendars for both myself and Adrian. I got a Christmas-themed one, while Adrian’s had a Minecraft theme. Plus of course there is the calendar I made, with small gifts for the kids every day. Phew!

Malt bread or vörtbröd is part of Swedish Christmas tradition. It is sometimes possible to find decent vörtbröd in supermarkets if you are lucky, but none compare to the ones that Eric bakes. Rich, spicy, moist and yet fluffy.

We’re baking. All hands on deck – three cakes in progress in parallel, for the kids’ combined birthday party with family and relatives tomorrow. A tosca cake, a raspberry cheesecake, and cookies. Ingrid is enjoying the feeling of peanut butter cookie dough.

Lemon merengue pie, for Ingrid’s birthday party.

Twelve eleven-year-olds were an interesting party crowd to have. Mostly of the time they seem so grown. They eat lemon merengue pie instead of ice cream with sugar sprinkles. They have party decorations in silver and black. They mostly don’t need adults to entertain them or to arbitrate in their games, unlike younger kids. There are no tears because a piece of cake fell over, or because someone got a pink straw but wanted a green one.

But there were times when I was clearly reminded that they are still children. Especially when they get tired. When they couldn’t agree on whose turn it was to hold the pen for some part of the treasure hunt, or when someone thought that the others were doing it wrong, they really weren’t that different from a bunch of pre-schoolers – they still needed an adult to coax them through it, so the party could end without fights and tears.

I’m taking photos of distinctive objects around the house for a treasure hunt, for Ingrid’s mystery/spy-themed birthday party this coming weekend. She and her guests will also get to decode secret messages, play with fire to uncover hidden messages written with lime juice, etc.

A day late, we baked a birthday cheesecake.

Our (by now traditional) birthday sushi lunch at the conveyor belt place in Kista. Just Ingrid and myself this time, since Eric and Adrian were on a scout hike.

We mentioned Ingrid’s birthday to a member of the staff and she was brought an umbrella drink, which was a real “cherry on top” for her.

On his way home from a birthday party.

Adrian rarely builds with the Legos he has, but the one thing he really wished for as a birthday present was a Lego Chima set. The Chima series is my favourite as well. The zoomorphic shapes are interesting and intricately constructed. If they didn’t get all dusty, I’d be happy to have them as room decorations.