’Tis the Season

We celebrated Saint Lucia Day at school on Tuesday, with a gathering in the morning that involved lots of real candles, small children, and flammable white outfits. Along with a few friends, I also attended a Lucia service the night before to watch one of my students play Lucia. It was so warm, so beautiful, so Swedish.

My mentor students had a holiday party on Wednesday evening, which was organized by the class parents. They rented out a historic house, decorated it, and served pizza, brownies, and Julmust. After dinner, they headed downstairs to a dance floor lit up with twinkle lights. One of my kids asked me what we used to do at dances when I was their age. And that… is how I found myself teaching a small crowd of young Swedes how to dance the Macarena.

It’s been cold and rainy here for the past several days. It’s also been a week full of marking and assigning final grades, which is my least favorite part of teaching. But there have been many bright spots—here are some things that are making me happy lately:

A decorated whiteboard.

Winter poetry board.

Christmas Eve tea, sent by my wonderful parents!

Decorating oranges with cloves and red ribbon at a Christmas fika.

Some Christmassy things around the apartment...

Comfy cowgirl boots, found at a secondhand store in Stockholm.

Watching a student play Saint Lucia at her church.

A little love from the students... (pretty sure they give all their teachers this compliment, but I'll take what I can get).

Excellent reading material (thanks, Kat!).

Listening to friends perform their music downtown.

Cutting out sugar cookies...

Baking them...

And turning the cookies into neon masterpieces.