New Year's Eve was spent back home in Gothenburg. We watched the big fireworks sponsored by the local newspaper at 5 and then had a lovely dinner at J's. Delicious cooking as always!
Picture taken by eterisk.

At 12 we went to a nearby water tower to watch the fireworks and drink lots of icy cold champagne. This was our company for the evening. I really must learn to use flash!

Not the greatest picture of either of us, I know, but this is the first picture taken of us in 2006!

Shooting fireworks with a pocket camera in misty weather really is impossible... Even with PS postprocessing =)

Before starting off on our long journey back home, we went on another snow mobile ride. I got to drive out to the cottage in the middle of the woods (10 km) and G drove back. Unfortunately we switched again just before getting back, and I got to experience my first overturn as well.. Don't ask me what happened, but at least nothing was broken either on us or the machine (which was my father in law's; wouldn't want anything to happen to that!)

G's sister and her fiancé joined us as well.

How do you like the white balance in this picture? *lol*

This is me (to the right) after my first ever ride driving a snow mobile all by myself! It's really a lot of fun, but I'm not that fast yet =)

This is what happens when the road turns but the bus doesn't!

It snowed for three entire days during our stay. I absolutely loved it! I can't remember when I last saw as much new, clean, fluffy snow. Brilliant.

During our visit I did not only drive a snow mobile by myself for the first time, I also discovered eternity. And saw the Northern Lights for the first time in my life! I went outside on our first night there forgetting how amazing the sky gets on a clear night, since there are hardly any street lights around. I had to stop and gasp for air when I looked up towards the stars; I hadn't seen anything like this in many years! And the northern lights were absolutely stunning, even if they were not as vivid as you sometimes see on TV. Better luck next time I guess.

We spent a few days between the Holidays in Drevdagen with G's family. This day we had the most wonderful weather, so we went out for 2.5 hours taking pictures - in -20 C! But the good thing about the cold up there is that as long as you put on tonnes of clothes, and don't stand still for too long, it isn't really that bad! But of course, when it gets even lower than -20 you try not to stick your nose outside the door more than necessary...

In spite of the cold, the water was open where the lake turns into a creek. The steam made it look as if it was boiling hot, but I wouldn't fancy a swim in it, that's for sure!

The sun barely rises over the tree tops this time of year, so you cast an incredibly long shadow. I even thought we looked like the Incredibles! =)

The nature around this village is bloody amazing - just look at this view!

Click to enlarge!

My Granny's birthday is on Christmas Day, so we gathered around the big table once more. The composition was a bit different this day though; some had left and new relatives joined. Here you can see Granddad in action - he always takes pictures of everyone sitting around the table whenever there is a special occasion. Apparantly it's a tradition he carries on from his Dad. I wonder how many pictures have been taken like that over the years?

I like the way my sister's eyes is the only thing that is at least slightly in focus in this picture. I really must learn to use flash in a good way, since people won't sit still long enough to be caught on camera without decent lighting! =)

In Sweden Christmas Eve is the big day - on the 25th everyone is just tired! This year we celebrated Christmas at my Grandparents' (on Mum's side) in Vansbro, Dalarna. The table was set for 13, but we got along just fine anyway =)

My Dad wanted to be in the picture with me and eterisk.

My cousin and sister waiting for Santa (?)

Santa couldn't make it this year though, so Dad had to stand in for him. And Mum helped when needed. I got lots of nice presents this year too, I must have been a good girl! Each year we say we should by less presents, but still they seem to pile up every year... But it's nice to give something nice to the ones you love, isn't it?!

I have gone to visit relatives for Christmas and will probably not have many opportunities to update my blog. But hopefully I will come back with lots of new pics!

I wish all of you nice and relaxing holidays!

After having finally bought the last (?) Christmas presents, we needed to put our minds on other, more pleasant things related to the upcoming holiday. My parents' choir performed in Gothenburg Cathedral at "Julsång i City" (Christmas Carols in the City), which is an event where a number of choirs participate and the audience get to sing along most of the time. I enjoyed the singing, and eterisk was taking photos as usual =) This one is mine though!

Tonight I had my colleagues over for a little get-together. I didn't take a single picture though, shame on me! This is the lovely wreath that I got and will put on the wall tomorrow (it's too delicate to hang on the door).

The decorations were just so me, they got it just right!

Happy birthday to me!

I found some pictures of me making knäck yesterday, taken by eterisk.

This is what they look like when they're done.

Since everyone was so busy this weekend, my whole family (8 people in total) went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday today. Then I went to watch the traditional variety show at my old school (upper secondary / High school) where my sister is now in the 2nd year. She was part of the band and did great =)

Don't you just love these Santas?

Watching the show and being back on the premises brought back many happy memories. Making the variety show was such great fun (it's all about making as much fun as possible of the 1st and 3rd year students...) and I really loved the three years I spent at this school, even if it was hard work!

I have developed a new talent (?) for accidentally finding myself close to stars lately - the other day I tried to paparazzi-shoot Jill Johnson, but the pictures were not good enough for publishing. Today I stumbled over Per Gessle. But I guess it's not much of an accomplishment since everyone seems to be signing records everywhere right now...

A greater accomplishment was that I made knäck today! This is my absolute favourite sweet for Christmas, and I put a lot of effort into making the perfect batch each year. This time it turned out pretty good - but I just realized I forgot to take a picture of what the result looks like!

If you are a recent regular at my blog, you might think I'm a very homely person, seeing all the baking I've been doing recently. This is completely wrong though; I hate cooking but it usually changes a bit around Christmas. Soon everything will be back to normal again =)

Tonight we finally found the time to go to the Christmas market at Liseberg. The lightning of the trees is just amazing! I can stare at it for hours (if it wasn't so damn cold that is...).

eterisk and I stayed a little longer than our friends to take some pictures. It was worth the cold =)

The theme park is sleeping.

It's really tricky to capture, but maybe this will give you an idea of how amazing these trees are...!

Tonight the instructors from my Fitness Club gathered for our yearly Christmas Party (lots of Xmas stuff right now, I know!). This year we went to Hard Rock Café for burgers and virtual bowling. The bowling thing was quite interesting - it's just like normal bowling, but instead of hitting pins, the ball goes into a hole and you watch it continue on a screen to see how you did. Quite fun, and I guess space and maintenance saving for the bar.

Yeah, strike!! Bowling is not exactly my best sport, but it's still fun. I didn't do too great in the beginning, but it got better towards the end.

I liked the pictures behind the bar!

And I found John Lee Hooker's guitar.

The Killarna were there to play (this must be the worst stage ever!). I hate cover bands, so I had an early night and went home instead =)

Some more Christmas lighting pics. Today we went for another round of gift shopping; we managed to get one more off the list. Then we went to a tapas restaurant to have dinner. We wanted to celebrate a bit since eterisk found out today that he is getting a scholarship from his school!

This angel watching over Earth is placed on a building that has been partly demolished in the middle of the city. When you remove the surroundings like this, it looks as if it's watching over the ghetto!

This is the normal view from work....

...and this is what it looked like today. Depressing!

Fortunately the weather cleared up in the evening. We went for a walk down town and watched the Christmas movie that is being played twice a day during the last two weeks before Christmas.

They are projecting the movie on the walls of the Museum of Art. They turned it into a gingerbread house!

There was a multicultural theme to the movie, but in all it was rather traditional I think. They had also put a lot of "hidden" (or sometimes very open) promotion for important events in Gothenburg, like the ship Götheborg and the European Athletics Championships 2006.

Gothenburg is aiming to be "The Nordic Christmas Capital". The Avenue is fully decorated with lights.

This is as close as I got to a Lucia procession today. This is Göteborg's Lucia and her attendants. So I caught the best procession in town, just not in a very good environment (it's supposed to be dark!). Here you can watch some pictures from the coronation of Lucia yesterday at Liseberg (click on "BILDSPEL").


There were at lot of people at Frölunda Torg watching, that's why I couldn't get a better picture (I was late as always...)

At least I caught the decorations hanging from the ceiling =)