Its that time of year again where we tend to eat too much and end up watching the same repeats on the tv as we did last year. I thought it was about time therefore that I made a post of how Maria and I will be celebrating Christmas this year.

Our festivities will begin on Monday. That will be the 1st year anniversary of Maria saying yes when I popped the engagement question. We have brought each other a small gift but otherwise our celebrations will have to wait. We will both be working that evening and I wont be home until after midnight.

Maria has to work on the morning of Christmas Eve but the afternoon is the height of the festivities. The main Christmas meal is eaten in the afternoon and traditionally comprises a smörgåsbord including a few traditional dishes such as ham, jellied pigs feet, lutfisk and rice porridge. Lutfisk (sun-cured cod served in cream sauce) is most likely a throwback to a period of fasting from pre-Reformation times. The Christmas feast also includes a tradition called "dipping in the kettle" (doppa i grytan), in which the assembled family and guests dip bits of dark bread in a pot filled with drippings of pork, sausage, and corned beef. Symbolically this calls to mind, in the midst of thanksgiving and plenty, all those who are in need and hunger.

Around 3 o clock , Jultomten a gnome who lives in the barn who more recently has morphed into Santa Claus arrives. A family member dressed up as Santa will bang on the door and inquire with a ho ho ho “are there any kind children here?” Presents are then exchanged and children dance around the Christmas tree singing

You may think that there are too many repeats in England over the Christmas period but Sweden easily tops the bbc on that score. “Donald Duck and his friends who tell their Christmas stories. Every year it is the same stories, but it is just as fun as always. The program ends with the phrase : "From all of us, to all of you, a merry, merry Christmas” over 40 years this show has been repeated !

We will be spending the afternoon at Marias mums. Her sister and boyfriend will be traveling up from the south of Sweden to be with us. Gran has also be invited but is most likely to stay at her own appartment where we will visit her instead. The 25th is a quiet day in Sweden where traditionally Swedes attend Church in the early hours of the morning. In reality it is much the same as boxing day in England.