God Jul i Stugan

Olivia got to say Merry Christmas to everybody at home in Sweden. God Jul till er alla!!!

Christmas Eve morning

In Sweden our big Christmas day is Christmas Eve. And as I am writing, my family in Sweden are eating their big Christmas Lunch and in a few minutes they will be watching the Disney Christmas television show that has been shown in Sweden in over 30 years. I decided to let Olivia open some of the gifts that my parents had sent from Sweden. She absolutely loved the dress and the book. "Tack kara mor och far." I can't believe it's been 7 years since I was home for Christmas. Well, I shouldn't complain, my aunt Gittan, hasn't been home for a Swedish Christmas in 30 years. I hope it won't be that long till I get to go home. Tonight we will be going over to Gittan's and celebrate with family and friends and tomorrow we will go to Nonna and Papa. Olivia is very excited to see Nonna and Papa. This morning Mumsey will come over for a little Christmas celebration. We are looking forward to that too. Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. God Jul till er alla!!! Ps. YOu might wonder who that beast is on the picture. That is our dog Cooper and not the wolf from " Three little Pigs."

Olivia...my little Bohemian

My friend Beth captured a sweet moment as we were taking some family photos a couple weeks ago. So much of my stress level these days have been Olivia. She has a will like no other and most days I have moments of panic. The other day I was cleaning up another poopy butt as she decided to jump off the toilet into my arms. I kept putting her back on the toilet, but she thought it was so funny to keep jumping into my arms. I finally had to leave the bathroom and close myself in another room just to breathe. She came running after me ( still with poop all over her butt) asking me "what's wrong Mommy?" She didn't know that I was about to have a nervous breakdown, if she was going to jump off that toilet once more. Everyday I have to chase her down to get her clothes on and it's almost impossible to keep a ribbon in her hair. The other day Will said she looks like a Bohemian. Do I take that as a complement or should I be offended, I don't know??? All I can say is that my daughter is helping me in my sanctifying process.

Lucia video clip

Here is a little taste of how it sounded...

Swedish Lucia party

We celebrated our 8th annual Lucia performance in our home in Memphis. Will wanted to be the Lucia so bad this year, but we didn't think he had enough hair to really pull it off. So we had my friend Elin as the Lucia. She is about to have a baby any time now and had to sit on a chair during the performance. There were between 40-50 people who came to see this spectacular performance. Somehow we all managed to squeeze in!! We had a great night.

Christmas pictures...

Nonna really wanted to get some Christmas pictures taken in the sweet outfits that she had made for Aaron and Olivia. But, Oboy, it's not easy to take good pictures.

In the nude...