“The snow is sparkling like a million little suns.”
The play was good and the meal excellent. I loved the time with my two sisters. I also visited my uncle, our favorite uncle. I hadn’t seen him in a while. It was good to sit and chat. He used to call me Leeny, shortened from Kathleen.
The ride home was in torrential rain. Even the quickest setting on my wipers wasn’t enough at times. The traffic slowed in the worst of it. As I got closer to the bridge, the traffic was lighter so less backsplash. That was the best part of the ride.
When I was a kid, snow at Christmas made for a special world. Even though the bulbs on our front bushes got covered, their colors shined through the layers of snow, and soon enough the snow on those lights would melt from the heat of the bulbs while the rest of the bush stayed covered. The house looked like a magical place. The plows never completely removed the snow off the streets. I loved to walk on the side of the road and listen to the crunch sound my footsteps used to make on the packed snow. It was almost a squeaky sound.
One year on Christmas Eve my mother asked me to go to the store to get bread. There was no snow so I took my bike out of the cellar and pedaled to the white store. All the way there I kept thinking my mother had no idea of the importance of Christmas Eve or she wouldn’t have sent me on such a mundane errand. It was the day of all days. Every kid knew that. My mother didn’t.
The weather is dreary. I have a couple of errands and that’s it on my to do list for today, but I’ll probably wrap some more tonight. When we were adults, my mother wrapped every gift and every tag on my gifts read to Kat from Santa. My father used to help. We could easily identified his wrappings. One year my mother was behind, and I offered to help wrap. She’d hand me a box, and I’d wrap. A couple of times she told me the tag should read to Kat from Santa. I had wrapped my own gifts. She was a tricky Santa.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
December 17, 2018 at 1:04 pm
Christmas in Gothenburg usually meant lots of raining and just above 32F. If winter really arrived it did in February and then it came with nasty cold winds and around -4F temperatures. I’m pretty sure that’s why I never liked winter as a kid and that has stuck all my life 🙂 🙂
Grey and dull here today, a bit cold too but the little snow we have does make everything look pretty.
No one would go anywhere on Christmas eve here because as You know that is our big day on Christmas. I don’t think anything actually was open then back in the days. Perhaps in the morning for last minute buys but I do remember that Christmas day and Boxing day everything was closed, I think the law forbade anything to be open those days. In a way I think it should be like that today too, we were forced to relax no matter what happened 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
December 17, 2018 at 3:04 pm
Christer,
We could have snow any time now, but the days are a bit too warm so it would more likely come during the freezing nights. We could have snow as late as April.
It is still an ugly day here.
I know about your Christmas Eve and it amazes me. It is good to know Donald Duck is still loved.
The only stores open around here on Christmas are small convenience stores selling things like milk, eggs, cream, bread and anything else you might need. Stores can stay open if they want but most choose to close.
Have a great day!
December 17, 2018 at 1:43 pm
And so it came to pass that once again the footballing Gods decided that Tottenham Hotspur (the good guys from London) shall play Borussia Dortmund (clearly naughty even with Christian Pulisic) in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
So for the 3rd time in recent years, Birgit and I will be preparing for February 13 and March 5 when one of our teams will advance to the last 8.
Across the platform of KTCC the pleasantries will continue through the Christmas period and then the January snows but…the two games are coming and they mean a lot
I cannot wish you good luck Birgit but I am mighty amused that once again there is to be the matchup of our two teams
COYS
December 17, 2018 at 3:05 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I will remain neutral.
December 17, 2018 at 4:17 pm
Kat, We are still in the Christmas season, so Birgit and I are metaphorically sharing an egg nogg
But please remember there are good guys and BAD guys in this one.
December 17, 2018 at 4:55 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I’ll join you both in the metaphoric egg nog. I will keep the nice and naughty in mind!
December 17, 2018 at 2:08 pm
Hedley, sometimes I just love these footballing Gods 🙂
As for a peaceful Christmas time, this is Dortmund singing Christmas songs:
December 17, 2018 at 2:40 pm
Birgit this is very nice and I like it a lot for the nice peaceful Christmas time. I think that the tie between the two teams is one of the most unpredictable and will give both sets of fans reasons to be hopeful.
If you have Netflix in beautiful Bochum, do try to watch “Sunderland Till I Die” . It is a 8 part documentary about a community football club facing a second consecutive relegation looking closely at what took place inside the club and its impact on the local town. Well worth your time.
December 17, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Hi Kat,
The only part about snow I like is seeing it from inside with a warm cup of Irish Coffee. 🙂 Walking, driving, flying, playing and shoveling the stuff is a miserable experience. I don’t know why everyone hasn’t moved to the south or southwest where snow is a very rare and short lived occurrence. Of course the downside would be all those snowbirds living here at least half of the year would create havoc. Florida or Arizona or bust signs should be plastered on their cars. 😦
One of the nice things George HW Bush did was to spend Christmas in the Whitehouse so that the secret service staff could spend Christmas with their families. Obviously, the moron living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is heading to his mansion private club in Palm beach after shutting down the government on Friday on spite.
I’m amazed at how many Texans love to travel to Colorado in the winter to ski. I don’t understand the attraction of skiing or why one would want to go play in the snow and take a chance of breaking a leg or their head. 🙂
I remember digging out the car after the snow plows came by in Queens while going to High School. Walking the family dog was also a pain while or after the snow fell. In Dubai they built a year round indoor ski slope. It’s in the Emirates Mall in a country located in a desert where 120 degrees is normal during half the year. I don’t know how people live in places along both sides of the Canadian border north of Oklahoma City from November through April. 🙂
Today is a mostly cloudy day with a high of 65 degrees. No snow forecasted through Christmas.
December 17, 2018 at 5:37 pm
Bob,
I loved everything about snow when I was growing up. Now, I think snow is beautiful, and I always turn on my back light so I can watch the snow fall. I don’t shovel. I have my walk shoveled and my car plowed out. Wise people don’t drive during a snowstorm, but afterwards is usually safe. Most people I know just figure winter is temporary. None seem to have the urge to move south.
That was a wonderful thing for him to do. Trump doesn’t know kindness or that people have feelings. I wish the secret service would remind Trump of the shut down if that happens.
I know a lot of skiers and not a one has broken anything. I think it is their skill level or their choice of their mountain. I think we non-skiers would have little or no idea of the attraction.
I have seen the Emirates Mall. It was a stop on The Amazing Race.
It was in the low 40’s but damp all day.
December 17, 2018 at 7:51 pm
You are correct, it’s only temporary. Here we have summer days in the 100s and we stay indoors with the AC running or out in a swimming pool.
Yes, I remember when the ski slope in the Emirates Mall. Who else but the Emir of Dubai would spend the kind of money it takes to make and keep a snow ski slope in 120 degree outside temperatures. 🙂
December 17, 2018 at 10:47 pm
You have no winter in comparison but you do get stuck with that horrific heat in summer. I’ll take the snow as long as I have nice summers with southernly breezes and no humidity.
December 17, 2018 at 5:00 pm
Luv the black and white photo with the old cars. Reminds me of where I grew up in CT.
If the government is shut down, does the Secret Service get time off?
December 17, 2018 at 5:13 pm
Bill,
They have to follow him to Florida and miss Christmas with their families. I read where the first George Bush stayed in Washington over Christmas so his agents could stay home for Christmas. I wish the Secret Service would say that they have to serve the shutdown.
I liked that picture.
December 17, 2018 at 5:16 pm
Cheers, Kat and Hedley, or as we say here: Up the cups! Greetings from a soccer region with the nicest teams at all 🙂
Hedley, no netflix at home but I’ll keep the title in mind, looks interesting. Thanks!
December 17, 2018 at 5:22 pm
Birgit,
Return greetings from a country bereft of talented male soccer players.