God Jul!

We just returned from celebrating Christmas with Martin's family in Sweden. Of course not everyone looks forward to spending 8 days with the in-laws, where if you aren't careful, you can miss those few precious hours of daylight, and where, it seems, they eat nothing but pickled herring. May not sound that appealing, but let me tell you, darkness and herring aside, we had a fantabulous Christmas!!

All the cousins!

I think I can speak for both Martin and I when I say this is the most relaxed/well-rested that we have been in, about...hmmm....2 years! Yup, it was that good. There were days when I didn't even know what time Simon woke up, because by the time I got downstairs he was up and fed with diaper changed. He had 2 cousins to play with, along with his aunt and uncle and grandparents all taking advantage of the precious little time that we get to see each other.

Simon waiting in anticipation of Santa.

Simon long gone - scariest Santa ever!

In addition, I was not responsible for cooking, cleaning, planning - anything. I just didn't have anything I needed to do. I think this was the key to truly unwinding. Martin and I even went on a date. First we ate burgers (where we were the ONLY people eating with our hands - gotta love the Stockholm snobbery), and then we saw the Hollywood version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I can whole-heartedly recommend. Precious to get some time to ourselves, not rushing home to pay the babysitter.

And now, we're back in Germany, back to the grind. Already trying to figure out what we're going to eat this week, setting up play dates, thinking of all that needs to get done. But for now, I am holding on to that feeling of rested and relaxed for just a little big longer...

(And yes, I know I am super lucky and have really great in-laws.) And here are the pics.