The most Swedish experience since I came here!
How I met Karita:
My mom was looking in Mora tidning and it was an article about a girl who had a grandfather in Mora. She was living in Oregon, Lake Oswego, about a mile from where I live here. She goes to Mora every summer and her dad grew up there. She was elected "Lucia of Oregon" this year and that's why she was in the newspaper. My mom told me about this and thought it was amazing, and it is! So we met a Sunday when the snow had started to fall and baked gingerbread cookies and ate lussebullar :)
And yesterday I went with her for a Lucia dinner! :D And yes, that was the most Swedish experience I have had since I came here. It was fantastic, no kidding! The old man who owned the house had 30 boxes of Christmas decoration all over the house, it took him and some friends a week to put it all up! Adventsljusstakar in all windows, julbockar all over the place and Swedish flags in the Christmas tree. We ate julbord with ham, potatisgratang, knackebrod and ostkaka for dessert. Spoke Swedish, sang Lucia songs, danced around the table singing "Nu e det jul igen!", it was like jumping back to Sweden again, childhood memories and oh I can't explain this with words, it was fabulous! :D Made my day :)
Karita is 16 like me and has two brothers, same age as mine and super similar to them too. It will be so fun when John comes over and he'll be able to meet them! :)
I better do some packing for California now, but yes, Happy New Year everyone!
Hulda is happy :) 
California here I come...
Yes that's right, I'm going to California tomorrow! Carolyn and i will visit Jon and Ulrice and their children, I'm excited :D Disney Land, Universal Studios, Sandiego and it will be a good time! Starting the new year with a trip to Disney land can't be much better if you ask me...
My days after Christmas have been great! Went downtown with Lena, Lucia and Andreas and saw the new movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey, it was a funny one. Yesterday was guitar day :D Sara and I went to Lakin's house with some other guys and played for six hours... So I am very happy :)
And here is the snow castle we built, very spectacular.
Happy New Year! :D
Hulda
Juldagen
Julafton
Christmas is childhood. Memories are coming back; the exciting feeling when you wake up in the morning, looking out the window and see the white snow. Running to the Christmas tree to see all the presents, look for the ones with my name on, take them, try to figure out whats in there. Some presents I didn't even want to touch because I knew that it was a book from mom and dad in there... But there were other presents that made me excited, like the big one across the room which had a shape of a barbie doll that I've always wanted. And yes! When Santa came around sevenish and I was sitting there with sparkling eyes he gave me the present. It was a barbie doll! My world became heaven.
I miss those Christmases. When you were a little child and everything was simple. I didn't have to buy or make any presents, that was a parent thing, or as most children think: a Santa thing. I don't remember when I stopped believing in Santa Claus, maybe my parents do. Hmm, that would have been a fun story to tell, because I was crying a lot as a child, so I probably cryed when I realized that there was no Santa Claus. Or, I've always been a curious child, and I knew that it was uncle Bengt who came in with his fake beard every Christmas eve... After all, I probably never believed in Santa Claus.
Christmas shopping is an experience in itself. Seeing all these stressed parents running around looking for the video game their little swetiee wished to get from Santa. I have a hard time with presents, because I want to give the ultimate gift. And when I'm standing in the customerline waiting for my turn all these thoughts come up; does he really want this? Is this a good gift for her? Can I really afford this?
But! All of that is done now, and my Christmas presents are pretty ultimate so I'm happy :) I love Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!
Fast update from my American life;
* We have SNOW! :D And thet is very unusuall here in Portland. People rather walk than taking the car because of it, you see all of your neighbors and everyone is super friendly and happy. Christmas + Snow = Happy Happy!
* So last week was no school because of that. Silly Americans...
* I'm getting new glasses for Christmas :D
* Sara and I build a huge snow castle, it's really cool.
* I'm nitting a lot :) And crchet too, and lots of guitar :D
My year has so far been amazing and I love it! I'm sorry for not writing in the blog as much as i should, but I don't really have the time on weekdays and on weekends I do other stuff. But I will try really hard to be better!
God Jul!
Merry Christmas!
Feliz Navidad!
Joyeux Noël!
From Hulda :)
In a Christmas Mode
No snow, but the Christmas feeling is still there! My fairy tale about the teddy bear Fidelio is very Christmasish, I have Christmas songs on my iPod, lots of lights around the house, pepparkaks deg in the fridge, lussebullebak on Saturday, Christmasbreak begins the 19th so yes Merry Christmas to you all! :D
I have been busy latly, as usually. Two Youth groups now, one better than the other, track after school, home and do home work and no Jonny lives in the house anymore :( But I am doing fantastic :D
Today I did something very special! I auditioned for the talent show at Wilson, how cool isn't that?! So I played my guitar and sang a song, Nalens Oga by Kent. And it was fun, pretty nervus but it worked out. We'll see what happens next, I have no clue, so this story will be continued...
Well, I have to finish my home work now.
Happy Lucia! :)
