We had a nice, relaxing day at home today, which was definitely called for after all the hectic Christmas celebrations. Like most people living in Sweden, we had the “main event” yesterday afternoon/evening, and we spent several hours over at Olof’s sister’s house with her family and their parents. We did all the usual Christmas things, including eating julbord, watching Kalle Anka on TV at 3pm, and awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus afterward.
Lydia got pretty impatient waiting for that last bit, especially as she has never believed in Santa, but all good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes, and she was well rewarded in the end. From Olof she got the much-coveted Swan Lake Barbie (thanks to Marie in Gothenburg!) and the Fairy Queen and one of the kid dolls from the same series, and from me she got a pink princess bedroom set to make the room of her dreams a reality. This afternoon we put up the gauzy canopy-style thing that Olof bought her to go over her bed, and we hanged her new curtains and arranged the rest of the goods (curtain, bedding set, throw pillows, rug, picture frames) to her liking. Sometime in the next several months we’re going to divide our upstairs living room into two smaller rooms and make one into a new bedroom for Lydia — once that’s all done and she’s moved everything in, she’ll definitely have a room fit for a princess.
We all got nice presents, from the extended families and from each other, and the gifts we gave were well-received, too. I think Tage got many more presents than he was equipped to handle, but the other kids had fun playing with his loot. One of the things Olof and I got for him was a giant stuffed frog that he absolutely loved in the store, but when he unwrapped it yesterday he seemed to have forgotten all about it, and now he’s afraid of it. Go figure.
Tomorrow Tage is going to stay with Olof’s mom and we’re going to take Lydia to town to go to the movies. It’s been a long time since we’ve gone to the theater to see a movie, and Lydia has been needing some time when she’s the sole focus of our attention. All too often she has to stand aside so that we can take care of Tage, and it’s easy to forget that she’s just a little kid as well. I don’t want her to grow up feeling less important than her little brother.