2 weeks to go!

i just checked the calender, and christmas is 2 weeks from today! so hard to believe. in all honesty, i'm not so much looking forward to christmas for the sake of christmas, but for the sake of leaving for phuket, thailand two days afterwards. it's hard to get into christmas when you know you're not going to be with the ones you love.

i had an interesting thing happen the other day that's been circling in my head. this past weekend klara had a dance recital on the WAY other side of Stockholm, and it was just a long, long day for all of the kids. it took a long time to get there, and then after her first show at 1pm, i had to take the little boys back to the house while klara stayed with her grandma (her farmor, it's her father's mother) to perform for the 3pm show. well, it was such a process getting home. on the way there, we all took a taxi and it was fine. on the way back, though, i had to take the boys on the train. i didn't think it would be a problem, but it ended up being planes-trains-and-automobiles ordeal. we took the pendeltag (the trains in the outer parts of town) to T-Centralen, which is the main subway station. From there, we took the tunnelbana (the subway) to our train station on the island here. From THERE we took the bus to our stop near the house. and finally, from there, we walked back to the house. needless to say, my boys were wiped out.
anyway, i was sitting on the bus and kasper, my oldest (7 yrs) was sitting next to me, and throughout the whole ride he kept scooting over closer and closer to me. finally, he just collapsed and tucked his head under my chin and was gripping my hands. i rested my head on his, and at once, i was hit with this overwhelming feeling of love for this little boy. which made me realize that this was the first physical affection of love that i had felt in three months. to most of us, that's not such a big deal because you probably experience it a lot, whether with a boyfriend/husband/friend/sister, etc. but i hadn't felt that way in my heart for months, and when i did, it was intoxicating. this all might sound silly, but i know it will be a moment that i will always remember about being here.

thought i would post a couple pictures of the weekend -

klara and farmor making cookies

these are the gingerbread cookies that Swedes LOVE to eat at christmastime - can't remember the name of them...

her dance recital had a "space" theme to it; she was supposed to be an astronaut, which is her current career choice, coming only before rock star ;)

my peanuts. they really do love each other, i think.