(Nota bene: the pictures in this post have almost nothing to do with the content. This is mostly because my husband refuses to take pictures of me, also because I find selfies to be too self-aggrandizing to bother taking any, and because it's winter in Sweden and the light is shit.) I'm just over 32 weeks into this...
winter
What Is "Enough" In the Middle of Winter?
Happy New Year! How's 2017 going for you so far? We've been having a lovely time; the kids are off school, so yesterday we went on a train adventure to the Natural History Museum (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet), and today James and I are trying to get a couple hours of work in while the kids play at a...
Celebrating the Winter Solstice
Today is the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. This morning the sun rose at 8:43am, and it will set this afternoon at 2:46pm. We won't see any of that, though, because the sun's entire path across the sky is obscured by clouds. Today feels dark and closed-in, and I've felt an overwhelming tiredness that...
Happiness Project: Building Community Through Winter Traditions
This month in my happiness project I'm focusing on building traditions and community for our family. Last week I wrote about forgoing Christmas gifts in order to donate money to organizations that help to build the kind of world we want to live in. This whole month, though, I've been working on surrounding ourselves with friends and loved ones to help...
Winter in Sweden: the Basics
It's time to talk about winter in Sweden. A while back I wrote about summer in Sweden, essentially saying that it's like heaven. And winter? Well, winter can feel like the opposite; or if not quite like hell, then rather like a long, slow slog uphill through waist-deep snow in the dark with clouds covering...
A Very Swedish Holiday: Lucia
Today is December 13—better known in Sweden as Lucia. It's a lovely holiday meant to celebrate the bringing of light into the dark, dark winter. It used to correspond with the winter solstice on December 21 or 22, but these days it coincides with St. Lucia's day on the 13th.