Christmas Letter 2008

This passed year has gone by faster than any year so far. A couple of high-lights from the year were our week in Toinis family's summer cabin and our trip to Småland and Öland. There we stayed on a farm and the children got to help take care of all the animals. While we were there, we also visited the beach and an old castle, dating from the 12th century.

Being a family of six, there is always something to do, something to look at, something to worry about and something to laugh at. We realize more and more as time goes by how blessed we are to be part of this family. Every individual brings to it his or her special spirit and personality, which makes it a colorful blend.

Egon is develloping fast. He just turned 18 months and he never rests. Constantly moving from one place to the next, he is trying to quench his thirst for discovering and learning new things. He is fascinating to watch, and very demanding to keep up with. Egon loves to play with his siblings, and always falls for their silly attempts to make him laugh. When he does, you have to laugh with him. His laughter is just so contaminating.


Lovisa continues to be a headstrong little girl. When she has set her mind to something, good or bad, she will not budge. She is always up to something, and leaving her on her own for very long can prove disastrous. Last fall, Lovisa started playschool three days a week, which she enjoys very much. Lovisa loves to sing and play house. In addition to her dolls, her "babies" include a rabbit, a ragdoll, a horse a sheep, a polar bear and a dog. Lovisa is a very happy little girl - a ray of sunshine in our home.


Ivar is a very studious boy. He started school this year and he loves it - especially maths. He is also very fond of playing computer games where he can learn new things. This year the boys have been taking swimming lessons and Ivar is excited about learning how to swim. He is very good at taking care of his little brother and is really patient with him. It is very important to Ivar that things are fair, to him and to others. When he thinks that something is unfair it really upsets him.


Alvin is very creative and loves to do crafts. Recently he gave his mother a "jewellery box" made of two ice cream boxes and some string. The other day he asked why she still hasn't started using it. Alvin also enjoys school a lot and especially playing with his friends. He likes swim school even though he wishes he could learn how to swim a lot faster. Alvin has a real roller coaster temper. He can go from happy to angry in a matter of seconds. But when he is in a good mood, which is most of the time, he is a joy to be around.


Toini has had a busy year taking care of the children and trying to adjust to having children both in school and in playschool. She continues to be a stay-at-home-mom, and is also working a few hours here and there as a translator of TV and movies. It is such a blessing to be able to work from home. Toini has also developed a couple of new interests this past year. One of those interests is blogging and the other is road biking, something that she was introduced to by her husband.


Jens continues on his script-writing course, closing up on his last semester of four. He has been focusing on a script for a feature film for children which he hopes to finish this spring. It is fun for him to work towards what he really wants to do. In the meantime, he still works extra as a busdriver. Last April Jens took up road biking, which he absolutely loves! Now he eats, sleeps and breathes road biking and bikes.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

from the Rydgren Family

Lucia celebration

Here in Sweden we have a tradition that we share with about ten other countries. This tradition dates back to the late 1700s and is named after Lucia who was born in a Syracuse, Italy, around 283 AD. Lucia was girl with strong faith in God. Emperor Diocletianus persecuted Christians and when he heard of Lucia he saw to it that she was tortured and killed for her Christian faith.

Every year on December 13th Lucia is celebrated by a procession. Or rather, by several thousand processions throughout the country... A young woman representing Lucia, walks at the head wearing a white gown, a crown of burning candles on her head and a red sachet around her waist. Following her are young women in white gowns with a burning candle in one hand. The candles have ever since the birth of this tradition been used to spread light in the midwinter darkness .

Originally that was it, but nowadays the tradition has become a mixture of things that have to do with Christmas. Now there are men in the procession as well, dressed in white gowns and cone shaped hats with gold stars on them carrying a gold star in one hand. They actually represent the three wise men who came to visit baby Jesus. There used to be a day in January where they were commemorated, but now they are represented in the Lucia procession instead.

When children do the Lucia procession there are also boys dressed as Santa's little helpers at the end, as well as some boys and girls dressed as gingerbread cookies... I have no idea why. Probably just to give the children more to choose from...



Here is a picture of Alvin's and Ivar's Lucia procession. They were Santa's little helpers, like most of the boys.

In Lovisa's procession, like in every other procession with the youngest children, there were about 12 Lucias.

Lovisa, of course, was one of them.

Lusse-buns. It really is December.

Alvin & Ivar, 6 years old!

November 29th Alvin and Ivar turned 6! According to birthday tradition in our family, the day started out with the birthday song and presents and breakfast in bed. Or, at least, breakfast in the bedroom... The boys were so excited! As Ivar sat there, opening his morning presents, he said: "This is what life is all about!"

Later in the afternoon they had a birthday party with 8 of their friends! And wow, was that a party...! I didn't get any pictures of the chaos that erupted about two minutes into the party, simply because there was no chance of even getting the camera out. It calmed down eventually, and Alvin and Ivar really enjoyed themselves!

The kids played a couple of games, ate some cake and cookies, and of course, watched as the boys opened all of the presents.

What started out as a mad house, ended up being a fun party. Jens and I were even alive when it was over, two hours later!

The logical thinking of a 3½ year-old.

Today when we were driving in the car, Lovisa and her cousin Hanna, who is a year older, were talking about thieves. Hanna said that, except for the police, they are the only ones who are allowed to run a red light. Then they started talking about the kinds of things thieves steal: "diamonds, jewellery and pretty clothes". Then Lovisa said, really worried: "I hope they don't come to our house!" Then she lit up, and said: "Oh, but they can't! They don't know the way!" She paused for a minute before she exclaimed: "Fantastic!"

I'm so glad the thieves don't know the way to our house. Because what would happen with all my diamonds, jewellery and pretty clothes if they did?!

Smells nice, doesn't it?

Yesterday I took the time to bake some bread. I love baking, although I don't do it as often as I should. It really is worth the effort.


Egon thinks so too.

Grandma and Folke

Yesterday, my mom and stepdad, Folke came for a visit. The children had been looking forward to it the whole week, and they were so excited! It's over a three hour drive from their house to our's so we didn't have that many hours to spend together before they had to head home. But we made the most of it, and had a great time. We ate lunch, played a boardgame, and the kids took them on the mandatory tour of their rooms.

Grandma and Folke treated us to a delicious marzipan cake.


This is a picture of Ivar and Folke. Lovisa said something really cute a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about our parents and grandparents and what their names are/were. After going through quite a few of them, Lovisa asked Jens: "What's your Folke's name?" She just assumed that everyone must have one.

Egon loved the cake...

Visiting Grandpa Åhs

Last Saturday we went to Arboga for the day, to spend some time with the Åhs side of the family: My dad, my stepmom Kristina, my younger brother and sister, Kalle and Sandra, and my older sister Merit and her family. We had a great day!

The kids spent a lot of time outside. To the left, Lovisa is showing off her harvest and to the right Ivar is at work sweeping Grandpa's driveway.

And finally, a picture of Egon. He had so much fun! He spent the entire day chasing after Flisa, the 16 year-old Yorkshire terrier!

Halloween the Rydgren way

Halloween isn't that big here in Sweden. There is not a whole lot of "trick-or-treating" going on. Only a vampire and a ghost knocked on our door this year. Even so, the kids really wanted to celebrate it, so we decided to have a Halloween dinner. Grandma Rydgren had come by earlier to give the kids some Halloween candy, and among other things there were some ugly looking spiders that served well as decorations. We even carved our very first pumpkin! Egon loved it and kept oohing at it. Of course the kids dressed up for the occasion.

Baking

The other day, when Alvin was at a friend's house, I put Ivar's reading skills to the test when I asked him to make chocolate-oatmeal balls all by himself. He read the recipe and got all the ingredients out. The only thing I had to help him with was the measurements. I was really proud of him. But of course not half as proud as he was of himself! Lovisa helped him roll the balls in coconut flakes and pearl sugar. She did a great job too!

First haircut

I had been putting it off for a long time. Egon's hair had become something of a trademark for him. But when people started asking me how old she is or what her name is, I finally accepted the fact that his long hair had to go. He is just as cute without it, of course. Now he looks like such a big boy!

This is before...


And this is after...

Out of the mouth of babes

Today at lunch, when we were blessing the food, Egon folded his little hands and uttered the first two words of prayer of his young life: "Ta-ta". That's how he says "tack tack" or "thank you". He has heard the rest of us thank Heavenly Father for the food a thousand times, and he doesn't know that many other words. But I still think it was so profound that this little person said "thank you" to his Heavenly Father. If you were only able to utter two words to Him, wouldn't they be the two? "Thank you!"

It's all about being flexible

Today was a beautiful day, sunny and not too cold. So I decided to take the kids to the lake after I picked them up from school and playschool. We stopped at our house to pick up the snack and were just about to go when Alfred, a friend from the boys' school called and asked if they wanted to play. I could tell that they really wanted to go, so I gave them their snack and off they went.


Lovisa me and Egon set off towards the lake, which is only about a 15 minute (kids)walk from our house.


When we got there, Lovisa wanted to throw some pine cones into the water. She picked a rock and sat down where the water is very shallow.


About two minutes later she had managed to slide right into the water! She got soaked from the waist down. Here she is, telling me that I really should have brought a change of clothes for her "just to be on the safe side". And here I was thinking I was on the safe side when I had her wear her rubber clothes and rubber boots...



Lovisa didn't want to miss out on the snack and I thought some warm blueberry soup would do her good. So we hurried and ate while she still didn't feel cold. As she was sitting there soaking wet eating her sandwich she said she wanted to go for a swim! "Isn't that what you just did?" I asked. "Yes, but that was with all my clothes on!!" she said. That's what she's looking so mad about in case you were wondering. After finishing our snack we hurried home.


The minute she walked in the door, she fell asleep standing up!
Maybe this wasn't my idea of a perfect picnic. But then again, what is perfect?

What a morning!

Thursday mornings are really hectic in our house. Jens works Thursdays, so he's usually gone by 5 or 5.30 am. We have to be at school before 8 am for Ivar's gym class, which is about half an hour earlier than other days. Also, Lovisa has her weekly picnic at Playschool, so I have to pack a snack for her to take with her.

Last Thursday the rain was pouring down as we left the house a little late. We ran to school and Ivar just made it to gym class. After kissing the boys good-bye, I dropped Lovisa off at Playschool. Then I thought that I would walk to the post-office to pick up a package. I figured: "How wet can it get?". Turns out I got totally soaked. At least Egon had a rain cover over the stroller.

Just as I passed by Lovisa's Playschool, on the way home, her teacher called me on the cell phone. Lovisa had gotten a bead up her nose! After several attempts they had given up trying to get it out. So I picked her up and walked home to call the doctor. Before I called I asked Lovisa to blow her nose really hard for me, and wouldn't you know it: A green bead came flying out of her nose like a projectile! Since it wasn't even 9.30, we decided to go back out into the rain and walked back to Playschool. What a way to start your day!

Going to the movies

Wednesday I took Alvin and Ivar to to see Wall-E. They had been looking forward to it for weeks and they were not disapointed. We bought a huge bowl of popcorn and some fizzy drinks - I think that was half the pleasure for the boys! Wall-E was a really cute movie! It's incredible how cute and almost human you can actually make a rusty robot! It was really thought provoking for me as an adult as well. I recommend it to those who haven't seen it yet.


The next day it was Lovisa's turn. Jens had promised to take her to see "Mamma Mu och Kråkan" or "Mamma Moo and the Crow" as they are called in English translation... They are a famous duo from the world of Swedish children's literature. It was Lovisas first time at the movies, and of course she was very excited about it!

Funny things they say

The other day Alvin was bragging about how much he has grown. He said: "I'm getting really big! Look! I've got hair on my arms and my elbows are bumpy!" It took me a little while to figure out that by "bumpy elbows" he actually meant the veins in his elbow creases...

Today Lovisa was playing with Egon and pretended that she was on the phone with someone:
"Oh, so you have a problem? You have too much candy left over? Well, I can come and help you out with that!" Where does she pick up stuff like that?

Fall, fell, fallen

The downside of anger

Before I had kids I used to look at parents getting mad at their kids in the supermarket, in the park or parking lot, wondering what on earth they were thinking. I just knew that I would never get that mad at my children. So what happened?

For the last few years I feel as if I have been angry, frustrated or irritaded all the time. Now, I know that isn't entirely true. Of course there are good days and we have some wonderful moments together, my children and I. But I know I have been angry so much more than I thought I would be. I have been so sad about that, and I have felt so much guilt. Another downside of anger is that it simply doesn't work. If anything it leads to more anger and becomes a downward spiral.

When I talked with a friend about it, she said that she felt the same way, until she realized that her children truly were a loan from Heavenly Father. That it wasn't her job to remold them into the shapes she wanted her children to have. She realized that her responsibility was rather to lead them by the hand and help make sure that their dreams and goals were taking them in the right direction. As the husband of another dear friend reminded her: "We are not here to control our children but to guide them".

How much easier motherhood becomes, when you start looking at it like that! I made a decision yesterday that I will change my behaviour around my children. I've made the same decision before, but I think I have forgotten where to turn for help. I love my children so much and my greatest wish is for them to be happy!

Cinnamon roll day

Today is cinnamon roll day here in Sweden. No joke. It has been celebrated for nine years this year. Of course this is not the only day us Swedes eat cinnamon rolls. They are enjoyed all year round. But apparently more so on this special occasion... I made a double batch of rolls, to the kids' delight! Oh, I don't mind eating a few myself...

After having been forced to finish their lunch, it was finally time to taste them. Alvin had a difficult time deciding which roll to take. He did manage to pick out one of the biggest.

I think I'll let Ivar's facial expression speak for itself.

Lovisa set her teeth in her cinnamon roll while Egon examined his for a few seconds before devouring it.