Advent Sunday weekend adventures

Greetings from the other side.

The past weekend was a calm one, and really relaxing. Today though, I am feeling a bit 'off' for some reason. Hopefully I won't come down with anything. A cold is the last thing I need right now.

We've had snowfall in the last few days. It started Saturday evening and on Sunday it was a full-blown snowstorm.

Saturday, my fiancee and I ate warm sandwiches (or is it called toast... my brain isn't fully functioning today, so am a bit uncertain) rice porrige for dinner with her parents. Then we went to spend some time with her friends and celebrate Little Christmas (lilla Jul in Swedish. I wrote a bit about it in a previous blog entry which you can find here). It had started snowing for the drive home though, and the winds had begun to pick up.

On Sunday the snowfall and winds were even worse. At one point we had 26 m/s winds and heavy snowfall. The power went out about half-an-hour before the Advent Sunday service was scheduled to start at church. We managed though. It actually turned out quite nice with no lights and only the lit candles to light up the church. Very atmospheric. There was a children's choir there to sing and an adult one too.

After church we went back to my fiancee's parents place for a bit of lunch. After a while her sister and her husband and youngest son came by as well for a visit to see the two new kittens before we all headed over to celebrate my fiancee's niece's 9th birthday.

There is something special about Advent and Christmas music, I think. For some reason it always feels more atmospheric. Granted, that could partly be because you only really listen to it for about a month every year. Still though, I like it and it is always a special time for me. This year I will be spending Christmas and New Years here in Finland with my fiancee's family. I am looking forward to it and towards seeing how they celebrate. I will however also miss being with my family back home in Sweden, of course. This is the first time that I am not celebrating with them, so it will definitely feel a bit different. They will be in my thoughts though.

See you all on the other side!