Yesterday the Swedes celebrated the first Advent Sunday, as so many others in the world. Originally this is a Christian tradition, but nearly all Swedes ‒ Christians and non-Christians alike ‒ light candles during the four weeks before Christmas. December is a very dark month in Sweden, so we need all the light we can get. In the northernmost part of Sweden they even have some weeks when the sun never rises above the horizon.
My mother, “the kalmstrom.com Matriarch”, has always loved to bring people together, and she continues doing so today, even though she is well into her nineties. Therefore it is our annual tradition for the "clan" to gather in her home each year on the first Sunday of Advent. We eat some food, taste her delicious Christmas cookies and drink the “glögg” (hot wine with spices) which she still makes from her own secret recipe.
In the photo above you see her surrounded by the Swedish members of the kalmstrom.com team ‒ Oliver, Peter, Siret, Sigge and me. We all enjoy it and have a very good time, and when the party is over we already start looking forward to next year’s gathering!
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