Trying on new trousers. Adrian has three pairs of old trousers that he likes, all with holes in their knees and at least one size too small. Now he also has three pairs of new trousers that fit him and have no holes!

One of the cousins (4 years old) wished for a Stål-Arvid superhero costume for Christmas. And “Stål-Arvid only wears gold”. Challenge accepted! (Waistcoat with cape, with golden everything.)

That neighbourhood cat that has made itself at home beneath our bird feeder has knocked it over repeatedly in his attempts to catch the birds. The whole stand itself is bent and some parts are just plain broken.

We’ve tried to make the ground beneath the feeder uncomfortable for it, and to to raise the feeder higher, and so on, but the cat hasn’t gotten the point. So we took a step back, considered our options, and then Eric constructed a new, hopefully cat-proof feeder stand.

The new stand is much more stable and should be really hard to knock over. At the same time it is super easy to disassemble and pack away for the summer. And cheaper and more environmentally friendly and more easy to dispose of than the old one, too. Just superior in all ways, basically.

It’s too easy to just go out and buy a solution to your problem. “I want to have a bird feeder in my garden. Therefore I should buy one.” And you can do it from your desk or your phone and it even comes delivered to a pick-up point near you so you barely have to leave the home to get it. If it had been harder, then we might have made one ourselves to begin with.

That lace edged curtain I finished some time ago.

I haven’t been outdoors properly since September. There’s always been something else that needs to be done, or I’ve been tired, or the weather has been crap.

I’ve given up hopes of a sunny day of walking (maybe even some snow!) when I could actually enjoy the scenery, perhaps take some nice photos. I just went out walking today for pure exercise. Ursvik, 10 km marked trail, just walk. At least it’s been cold enough to freeze the muddy ground so the paths were solid and not mucky. But the cloud cover was so thick that it was barely light in the middle of the day and the lamps along the trail were lit even at noon.

There has barely been any winter weather this year. It’s all just been gray since early November. We’re so far from having a white Christmas that there hasn’t even been talk of a chance of one.

But today was at least a brighter day, with even some weak sunshine, so we went out skating.

Adrian took the skates that Ingrid used last year (size 36) and Ingrid took mine (size 38) and I stayed on the sidelines and took photos. And walked in circles around the skating rink when I felt done with that.

Usually the large bandy rink at Spånga sports field is fully booked for various organized activities and the general public has to make do with the small field. This December though there was a leak in the refrigeration unit so all scheduled activities were cancelled or moved to other ice rinks. The leak was recently fixed but the schedule remained clear, and according to the web site the place was still closed, so we had the luxury of a large and nearly empty ice rink.

Decorating yesterday’s cookies.

My mum and my brother are here to celebrate Christmas with us. He doesn’t take up much space, but she is like a kid, and not in the best of ways. She needs constant entertainment and she expects us to provide it. If we don’t, she gets grumpy. So instead of relaxing, we need to make a plan to keep these days full of activities. Some of these we’d do anyway, like cooking extra delicious Christmas meals. In fact, it’s possible that we would do most of them. But it’s one thing to go out for a walk together because we feel like it, and another thing to do it because I have to keep other people’s moods up.

It didn’t use to be like this. Probably this is a large part of why I don’t enjoy Christmas any more.

The Christmas thing is in full swing.

Cookies were made, gifts were opened, plenty of food was eaten.

For the past few Christmases, I’ve had to make more and more of an effort to enjoy this circus at least somewhat. I used to be able to. Now it’s just a chore.

Embroidering a kitchen towel for my brother for Christmas. Mum gets a towel with an elephant, since she collects them. My brother doesn’t collect lizards but lizards are cool as well as cute. (Since I’ve fallen behind on the blogging, I’m posting this a wee bit after Christmas so it’s safe!)