God Jul!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SWEDEN!

William joined Jason and I for a trip to Gothenburg, Sweden for the St. Lucia celebration and to pick up our new Volvo XC90. This was like a dream come true for me, as I've always wanted to travel to Sweden because that's where my grandfather's mother's family is originally from. Ethan and Ava had their first sleepover with friends, and we sure missed them! We rode the ICE train (traveling about 155 mph) to Kiel, Germany; the port for the Stena Cruise Line.

After walking from the train station to the port, we were pretty tired once we boarded the ship. We enjoyed a smörgåsbord of Swedish cuisine including herring, köttbullar (Swedish meatballs), smoked salmon, shark, caviar, many delicious side dishes, and a sampling of all the desserts. Even William enjoyed some new tastes with us. As we were eating, St. Lucia, dressed in white with a red sash and candles on her head, entered the dining area with her entourage and sang beautiful carols.

It took all night to get to Gothenburg. I'm so glad we were able to sleep pretty well; the back and forth motion on the boat was actually kind of calming. After getting on land, I still felt like I was on a ship, it was weird!
Jason at the port in front of the Stena Line ship the following morning. We then boarded a bus and traveled to a small fishing town on an island.

We went to a cozy little cottage for coffee or hot cocoa, lussekatts (rolls shaped like an 'S', with raisins and saffron), and ginger bread cookies. The little girl who was crowned St. Lucia from that town came, and they sang several carols and presented a history of the celebration in Swedish that was then translated for us.

William loved eating the lussekatts, and I think our group loved watching him feed himself and jabber as well.

We had a nice lunch and a short rest at our hotel, the SAS Radisson, and then headed off to the Avenyn, or Main Street of Gothenburg for some shopping and sight seeing.

Liseberg, Gothenburg's amusement park is transformed into a Christmas market, with almost five million twinkling Christmas lights. We bought fresh roasted almonds, yummy fudge, and whiskey sausage. It's so magical, we felt like kids at Christmas again.

The following morning we left for the Volvo factory to pick up our new XC90. We were the first ones from our group to get our vehicle, then we had lunch and went on a tour of the factory.

...I'm still wondering what is in Jason's coat pocket. Ha ha

I have a great husband! Not only did he take me on an amazing trip and bought me the vehicle of my dreams, but he also drove me all over downtown Gothenburg so I could find a Dala horse. Surprisingly, we even made it to the port a little early. We ate another smorgasbord, slept on the ship again, and then we were off for our next adventure: the 500 mile drive home. To be continued...