When we arrived in Sweden it was already time to prepare for Christmas. Almost as soon as we had settled in, my son wanted to go by himself with grandmother and grandfather to buy a Christmas tree. When they came back they had picked out the most beautiful pine tree and we decorated it with lights and ornaments, many of which I remember from when I was a child. It was quite a special feeling to for the first time experience the magic of Christmas celebrations together with my son. Of course he wanted to put some magic of his own into the mix, and decided to decorate the tree with some old toy cars that he found.
I feel sorry for my wife coming all the way to Sweden only to spend almost all nights working Japanese hours from late night to noon next day. She missed most of the fun preparing for Christmas and a lot of the fun enjoying the holidays in the snow and in front of the fireplace. It was a good thing she could work from Sweden, otherwise we would not have been able to come, and I so do admire her for spending the nights working. We had a few happy days together playing in the snow, but I really hope that next time there will be more play and less work for her.
When I was living in Sweden, my mother and I had a tradition to go to a small countryside church on Christmas Eve and listen to some beautiful music and songs. This year my wife and son also came and of course my mother met someone she knows (she always does, wherever she goes, much to everyone’s surprise). My mother introduced us and told the lady that my wife is from Japan and this is their little three year old son. My son, always happy to speak to new people, felt he wanted to introduce his father to the lady. Det här är darling, this is darling, my son said and pointed at me. He was using the word my wife always calls me as if Darling was my real name, and I thought it was all very cute.
Speaking of speaking to strangers, my son has really enjoyed making a lot of new acquaintances in Sweden. Neighbors and electricians to name a few, and every time he has met someone he has seized the opportunity to show his toys or talk about his books or he has wanted to know what use are the different kinds of tools the electrician had when he came to make some repairs. He even told me a few times that dad, I want to go and say hello to someone.
My son has really embraced speaking Swedish, and this is making me so happy, but more about that in the next post. We have created so many memories already, and apart from playing in the snow, doing grocery shopping with grandma and playing with LEGO with grandpa, I think the highlight for my son has been to really get to know and play with his two cousins. What fun they have had. And how they will be missed when we go back home again.
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