My Visit To Sweden

by guest blogger Suzanne (aka Mom, aka Grandma Suzie)

Dec 11, 2008
The plane got in at 7:30am, Jenn got in at 9:20am! Extremely cold!! Deposited the bags & unpacked the barbecue then went downtown. Lots of greenery around the windows and trees in the pedestrian mall. Had a Jack-In-the-Box wannabe hamburger (Max) then did some shopping at Tiger. Picked up the kids at school (they didn't know I was coming!!) Quiet afternoon watching The Muppets Christmas movie. Leftover for supper and an early night (8:30pm)

Dec 12, 2008
It snowed last night!!! Early to school for St. Lucia program. Stood in the gym for the performance - very beautiful and impressive. Went to Merja's (Alexander's Mom) house for a "hen" party with glögg and St. Lucia buns (lucekats). 12 of us plus 2 munchkins. Lots of talk and laughter. Then back to Bladins for Lilli's and Tipton's programs. Dave covered Tipton while Jenn & I got Lilli filmed. Naturally, she as adorable. Back home for play date with Malin's kids, Noah & Savannah. It was a noisy afternoon.

Dec 13, 2008
Slept til 8:00am!! Made chocolate crackle cookies. Made up the sugar cookie dough then went to the store. Made two recipes of pepparkakor. It came already made up (like Pilsbury cookie rolls). Smells heavenly. Aaron came to spend the night. Had spaghetti and watched A Muppets Christmas Carol. Had glögg!! Yummy.

Dec 14, 2008
Had Swedish pancakes & bacon for Sunday breakfast. Jenn decorated the pepparkakor. Went to the mall (Trangeln) to McDonald's for lunch then Jenn, Lilli & I went to ICA Maxi at the harbor. Rolled out sugar cookies with Lilli's help!

Dec 15, 2008
Went to Lund! Stopped first for chai latte & delicious scones at Expresso House. Walked down to Tiger... lots to see. Found some goodies. Back to Bladin's for Jenn & Sam to help with the spelling in Tipton's class. Tipton & I decorated sugar cookies... they're beautiful. More glögg.

Dec 16, 2008
There was an earthquake this morning!! It happened at 6:20 am. I was in the shower. Jenn slept through it. Went to a gigantic warehouse sale. Jenn got 2 jackets at great prices. Stood in line for an hour! :( Sam & Jenn made pancake's for Tipton's class in relation to their celebrations studies... Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day in England.) Made green tree cookies. Jenni came in. Went to the harbor for pizza. Saw Malmö by night. Parked by the Turning Torso. More glögg. :)

Dec 17, 2008
Last day of school. Walked down to Cafe Gusto for breakfast. Had incredible multi-grain "bagels" toasted with ham & cheese & large chai lattes to wash it down. Yummy. Jenn made "crack" then we went down town to meet Lina for lunch. Had a very unusual quiche (but good.) Lina is still just as pretty. After some shopping picked up Lilli & went to Little Gym. Jenn picked up Jenni. Went home and had homemade sausage, bacon and swedish pancakes for dinner. The electricity went off for about 15 minutes. Lots of fun.

Dec 18, 2008
Church service day at school. We didn't go... Instead walked down to a bakery and had a snack and visit with Sam & Aaron. Walked back to school to pick up Tipton's progress report. Then a whole bunch of the "gang" went to Fun House for the afternoon. It's a large room above a furniture store with LOTS of inflatables for the kids to play on. A lot of the moms dropped off their kids for Jenn to watch & then finished their shopping, etc. Lunch of hot dogs or chicken nuggets. Nice area for the parents to sit and visit. Also had face painting. Lilli & Tipton were painted like monsters. We were there from 11:45 to 3:00. Came home and made Christmas crafts. Tacos for supper.

Dec 19, 2008
Jenn's gone to yoga. I'm grandkid sitting. Sat through two showings of Mamma Mia & knitted. Tipton had a play datw with Charlie. My box came which meant a trip to th epost office. Pizza night!

Dec 20, 2008
Jenn made sausage balls for breakfast with her homemade sausage (and homemade bisquick)... were great. Laundry day! Went to the Maxi Maxi on a Saturday! We lived through the experience. Came home and made 108 Chocolate Raspberry Bites. Went to Sanna's house (Nicholas' Mom) for dinner. She fixed glögg :) and duck. Was very good. The wind was so strong it almost blew me over.

Dec 21, 2008
More laundry. Dave piddled with the computers. Got a laptop set up for the kids to use. Went to Coop & got a turkey (7 1/2 pounds). Went to Lidl where Lilli serenaded the store at the top of her lungs with Santa Lucia in Swedish. Went to th emall to McDonald's for dinner & walked in the rain looking at Christmas lights. Made bannana bread.

Dec 22, 2008
Finished the laundry! Made more banana bread. Jenn made & froze 2 pans of lasagna and 2 pans of hand rolled chicken enchiladas. I made a double batch of taco seasoning mix. Jenn made a double batch of Swedish meatballs. She cooked and froze half of them and left the rest to cook for dinner on Christmas Eve. Jenn also made and froze some sausage patties. Scrubbed bathrooms. Took the recycle. Dropped off Sam's cookies. Jen frantically worked on Lilli's stocking. I knitted another washcloth. Since Thursday is Christmas, tonight was leftover night.

Dec 23, 2008
Banana bread for breakfast! Yummy. The stocking is finished! Now to wash and sew it together. Got stocking completley finished. After a cheese and cracker lunch, went walking on the pedestran mall. Jenn & Tipton got fingertipless gloves with foldover mitten tops (aka "glittens"). Lilli and I got cold. We walked down to a tree lit by burning candles. We stoped on the way back and got fresh hot mini-donuts. We saved them till we got home. We got hot chocolat with whipped cream to drink walking back to the car. We stopped and watched a rehearsal fro an ice skating show - Fire & Ice. Really Swedish... wild. After a taco supper we had the mini-donuts for dessert. Were delicious.

Dec 24, 2008
It's Christmas Eve!!! Cheery's last visit. Dave slept until 10:40am! Jen made cinnamon buns (kanel bullar). She aso vacuumed and mopped. Martin and the Trively kids (Clare, Anna, Mia) came over to watch Donald Duck (Kale Anka) at 3:00 pm. Had an early dinner of homemade Swedish meatballs with terrific brown sauce & mashed potatoes. The lingonberry jelly was delicious. Had cinnamon buns for dessert.

Dec 25, 2008
Santa Claus came! He left me something in a stocking (Lilli let me use her old pink one.) Got LOTS of chocolate, some spatulas, a finger, a unique bookmark, a book light, some Snacky Cracky and a "picture album"... electronic, to carry in my purse (a small electronic picture frame.) More cinnamon buns for breakfast. Made fruit salad. Had a 'snack' of cheese, crackers, salami, olives, grapes, apples, fruit dip & sausages. Played with all the toys. Delicious turkey dinner. I made gravy!!

Dec 26, 2008
Went to Malmborg's. Thoguth it was closed... only 5 cars in the parking lot. No one on the streets. 29 degrees out. Turkey sandwich for lunch. Yummy. Jenn talked with Mel - Brian is in Baghdad.

Dec 27, 2008
Cinnamon buns for breakfast again! Went ice skating! (Well Jenn, Dave and the kids did. I sat and watched and took pictures.) Tipton is pretty good. Lilli gave it a try. It was very, very cold. Went to McDonald's for lunch afterwards... so did everyone else in Malmö. Had the Trively's and Betsy's Mom over for dinner. Didn't know 5 kids could make so much noise. Had Swedish meatballs with all the trimmings. Dave and Martin battled it out on the Wii. There will be a rematch! Enjoyable evening.

Dec 28, 2008
Went ice skating again. Even colder today and twice as many people. Lilli did better. I froze. After lunch Jenn and I wen to the fabric store and got material to make Lilli's cape and Tipton's pajama bottoms... was very crowded. made a stop at Malmborgs. Lilli greeted us at the door on our return saying "You went without me. I needed to go!" Left over night... dressing & gravy! More glögg. :)

Dec 29, 2008
Jenn made pittypanna... diced ham, onion & potatoes fried with an egg on top. Very good. (Traditional Swedish comfort food - aka the working man's dinner.) Went to Ikea... so little time & So Much to see. Had some delicious chicken with weird vegetables. Mingled with the other half of Malmö. Got some good bargains.

Dec 30, 2008
Started fixing snacks for New Year's Eve party... cucumber dip, mexican egg rolls, pumpkin dip w/ pepparkakor. Went to the harbor Maxi. Repairman came by to fix the dryer... ha ha - will bring part on Friday. Jenn went to Malmborgs and had to park halfway to the beach. She'd Never seen the store so crowded.

Dec 31, 2008
19 degrees thsi morning at 9:22 am! Brrrr and the sun was shining!! Cleaned house and finished cooking... pepperoni roll ups, fruit dip, cucumber sandwiches, chocolat chip cheese ball, sweet spicey chicken wraps. Jenni got here aroudn 4:30 followed by Sam & family & guests (Karl & Ranel Oberly from the US.) Very nice people. Sam brought potato skins, raspberry triffle w/ real whipped cream & apple pie with vanilla sauce. The Trively's were next with a big green salad. Susanne, Alex & Nicholas rounded out the party with proscuito wrapped honeydew & stuffed small lobsters and delicious scalloped potatoes. (The traditional dish would have been Jensen's Frästelse, which is pretty much scalloped potatoes with sardines. Jenn requested that Susanne leave the sardines at home.) Dave cooked 4 marinated pork tenderloins. Had glögg while waiting for midnight and played Time's Up - hysterical. The natives went wild with the fireworks starting about 11:30pm. By 12:05 am it rivaled anything Iv'e seen on television... in the middle of the city. We went to the end of the block to shoot off ours. Dave brought out the champagne.

Jan 1, 2009
Everybody slept late. Lilli had stayed up until 11:45pm. Tipton lasted until 1:30am!! Had cinnamon buns & pancakes for breakfast. Watched "Zoom" then had leftovers for lunch. Then watched Madagascar.

Jan 2, 2009
Friday. Dave went back to work today. Short work week. Jenn and the kids and I drove downtown, parked, and walked to the bank. Then walked to Anita's (knitting shop.) Jenn bought yarn to make mocs for the kids, and to make a kitty hat for Lilli. Walked two doors down and got treats from the bakery since the kids were behaving. Watched "The Philadephia Story" with Cary Grant & knitted a Christmas tree.

Jan 3, 2009
Played Wii most of the day. Had some snow flurries.

Jan 4, 2009
Sunday. Went to the McDonald's in the Hilton Mall (Triangeln) for lunch. Dave and Lilli got haircuts. Lilli talked up a storm to the hairdresser. He gave her a big chocolate fig & almod bar. Watched The Princess Bride & knitted a Christmas tree.

Jan 5, 2009
19 degrees gain. Dropped off the recycle then went to Malmborgs. Got pasteries! Went downtown to the Hansa mall (a mall with a parking garage - with a tight spiral ramp). Then walked down the pedestrian mall (please refer to the temperature) to the square across from teh Hilton. The fountail was half frozen. Went to Sister Grene then walked back and stopped at a tiny Burger King. The tables & chairs were upstairs!... Large room. Jenn got the box from Melany. She gave them Wii Music which the kids LOVE. Made chicken enchilada soup - EVERYbody loved it!! Even the kids!

Jan 6, 2009
It snowed last night!! Not much accumulation, though. Jenn and I went out for breakfast together. It's a national holiday and the town looked like the day after The World's End. There was no one anywhere. Everything was closed. Finally found a bakery open. Delicious. Came home, cleaned. Samantha came over for a playdate with her mother, Adriana. Made and ate deli sandwhiches. Chatted and gossipped while the kids played. Snow flurries all day, but no big deal (no accumulation.) I packed. Found extra room... need to go shopping. Had my hair "done" by Miss Lilli. Then played The Ladybug Game with Tipton and Lilli. Tipton read his dinosaur book to me. Then Mr. Tipton "did" my hair.