Stockholm Lights

Both Friday and Saturday nights I was at "spontaneous" parties and dinners with people from my department. Carolina and Henrick had invited a few people to their place for dinner after work, before going out Friday night. However, the invite got spread to more like a few dozen people. So, we picked up some party supplies on our way over to their apartment - and we ended up partying there, rather than going out. Fairly late on Friday night, Kathy told those of us that were left at the party that she wanted to cook dinner for all of us on Saturday. Line and Leif offered their house for the dinner. Although Kathy didn't remember her dinner plan, she, along with Line and Leif, made the dinner party happen.

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday afternoons shopping. I exchanged my broken red star (new one in the picture - you can't tell because of the flash, but it's lit up). These stars are popular Christmas decorations in Sweden. I like them so I bought two (the other one is with the first paragraph). They brighten up my apartment. I'll probably leave them up year round (or until I get tired of them). The other common decoration in Sweden is the electric candles that I have a picture of below. Every house has at least one of these (my landlady has one) and many business and our lab have these in every window. I'm told that they are displayed during Advent. In addition to these, a lot of shops and restaurants have real candles outside, on either side of their doorway (not on the crowded city streets but those off the main roads and those around my place). I'm not sure whether all of these lights/candles are for Christmas or because of the darkness. I guess I'll see in January.