Sausage rolls, Christmas pud and a wee mince pie

It was a wonderful albeit hectic week in UK. Ian's family has spread out a bit so we have the good fortune of seeing a bit of the lovely English countryside visiting aunties, cousins and childhood friends. 
We had a very nice couple of days just outside Abinger Hammer south of London with the family.

Christmas Day presented itself with the most fabulous weather, perfect for a long walk to work up a good apetite.

After almost an hour's walk we arrived in the little village of Abinger Hammer and crossed the bridge ...

... looking the other way was a quaint little house that used to be a mill - the stream was running under it so probably one would find a water wheel inside.

We went in and did find a water wheel, and a nice watering hole ...

Brilliant! Just what we needed.

 Merry Christmas everybody

Well, at some point we had to get back to the turkey. On the way I spotted this door and had to take  pic :-)

Before everybody went into a food coma time to check out if Father Christmas had been in the night.

 Jem got his share as well. "Wait for it, wait for it"

 "Go"

Father Christmas seem to have left his elf behind. Oh, well, pick him up next year. He's nice so we'll keep him.

Off to the kitchen whoever has the urge.

 

What time is it Maia? Oh, lovely watch there ;-)

We had a lovely Christmas Day and the traditional Bubble and Squeak on Boxing Day, with a famous visitor ... times three.

Thanks! See you next time.

Christmas Eve with Harry Potter

Yeah, Christmas Eve was a little out of the ordinary this time - the Stokoe Westbergs got out of bed early on a day off!!! On top of that, the day was spent in Harry Potter's footsteps throughout the wonderful city of London.
First out King's Cross station. We searched and searched, got bruised bumping into walls here and there, but alas.

Finally we spotted a long queue of people inside the station - aha!

If you go there, do visit the fabulous Harry Potter Shop next to the famous platform 9 3/4.

 Remember, swish and flick!

 Next stop - wobbly Millenium Bridge. No death eaters in sight on that day, pew!

A walk along the Thames took us to ...

... Gringott's Wizarding Bank. Well, they used the inside of this building, which is the Australia House.

It was getting late and we had a dinner appointment in the evening. Before that we just had to pay a visit to Hamley's 

Meet my family :-)

Father Christmas arriving on a ... bicycle rikshaw? This Christmas Eve certainly is out of the ordinary. Did make us feel a bit "at home" though.

We managed to find a double decker bus (check) to take us back to Victoria Station and as luck would have it the front seat upstairs was free, in fact, we had the whole bus to ourselves (for a while anyway).

A quick stop-over in Sweden

Christmas has come and gone. We had a fabulous few weeks with a lot happening in different countries, cultures and temperature zones! The world is a small place :-)

We start in Sweden:

Within 24 hours of landing in Sweden the party was ON! Friends and family from near and far, fabulous catering, good wine and ...

... an acclaimed appearance by the world famous Ungtupparna United

A BIG thank you to everyone who made the evening a very special one indeed.

Well, and since the timing of our arrival (once upon a time) was thus planned (or not ...) a few days later Christmas was suddenly upon us ... well, a slightly premature Christmas this time since the Stokoe Westberg had  engagements elsewhere on that particular day.
Preparations are on the way by the most competent people :-)

 Meat balls, brunkål, prinskorv, sillsallad and a load of other food soon ready.

 The last touches to the beautifully laid table.

 

Even upstairs everything seems to be perfect.

 Is everything ready? Oh, yes.

 ... was that a knock on door?

Let's check it out!

And a little something from far away for granddad.

A perfect fit :-)
The tree this year really does outshine previous Christmas trees in the Westberg history.

Well, that was that. We're off, UK here we come!

Lucia a l'Indien

13th of December is a very special day in Sweden - the darkness is dispersed by the bright lights brought by Lucia and her escort.

We were invited to the Lucia celebrations together with all the other Swedes living in Delhi/NCR at the Swedish Embassy. One simply cannot turn down an invitation like that!

Ambassador Harald Sandberg greeted us.
The beautiful garden was beautifully de decorated with lights everywhere and the .. leaning Christmas tree of Delhi.

The newly inaugurated fountain.

I have to share this picture - a Christmas tree together with flowering bougainvillea! A first for me.

Mingling (we seem to be doing a lot of that lately ...) with some lovely glögg (eng. mulled wine, germ. Glühwein - but none of them beat the Swedish version!), lussebullar (saffron rolls) ...

Maia is choosing carefully

...and appetizers in the form of dark bread or knäckebröd with pickled herring or köttbullar (meat balls) - not very convinced of this particular combination of food and drink.

The wonderful catering at the embassy then treated us to drinks of our choice and the very Swedish delicacy tjock grillad med bröd, a.k.a. hot dog. Delicious.
Today's weather - yes, I know it says Gurgaon, but Delhi is right next door.

It actually felt a bit cool and there was a little wind as well. Oh, I doooo know that many of you are looking out the window right now and see snow, strong winds and ... well, in short, winter. But after 9 months of HEAT 17 degrees actually feel cool! Go ahead, laugh ...

And now for the main attraction - here they come, Lucia, tärnor, tomtar and pepparkaksgubbar.

The children are all Swedish and they are all students at the Swedish school - a little bit of Swedish language training, culture, music and traditions. They had done a great job of rehearsing the traditional songs and performed wonderfully!

The lucky little christmas elves ...

... venturing out from hiding in the corners to feast on some christmas pudding.

The three Gingerbread men arrived, as tradition demands, with their hats askew and without the gingerbread pig.

After a long day with two Christmas (well, Christmas related anyway) dos we said our Merry Christmases and made our way back home. A few more pictures taken upon leaving the party.