Feelings and flowers ...

It's a strange and weird period for me. I have so many mixed feelings everyday and sometime it's quite hard to cope with them. So many horrible things are happening in this world. Anger and violence and carelessness. My growing children ( how long will i dare to call them still children ? ) noticing and asking why and pondering and becoming the grown ups of tomorrow and i'm so afraid for the terrible example we are giving them. I try to pass them a message of peace, of love, of faith and joy, but it gets harder and harder and i feel so lonley in the task. I feel like everywhere anger has become the 'new joy'. Like everybody is looking for the right reason to let it all out ... but where 'all' comes from ? Are my own children growing such a 'all' themselves and one day they will let it out ? And in the middle of these thoughts my own lonliness stabs me with its sharp pain. It has been almost four year since we moved here and I don't have not even a friend. Nobody to talk with. No number in my phone ( beside close family ) to call. I keep telling me that if we've been lead here there must be a reason, but .... if there was a reason not to move here and we simply weren't listening ? What a hard moment. Yesterday as every sunday evening I was listening to my doughter radio program and when it finished my husband started playing italian music. I started to sing along and all of a sudden I remembered of so many nights spent chatting and laughing and singing old songs with friends... and the pain was back ... where is my village ? Where is my tribe ? .... Ah sorry for this rant, but it has been sitting heavily on my heart for a long time now ... but still I try to focus on good, and do good and be good and set a good example for my younger loved ones ... so here I am facing the sun and smiling at it and snapping few shots in the garden, finally showing us that spring is coming. Hopefully spring will come in my heart too...

Baking with Jimmy

Today we woke up in the snow wonderland. It has been snowing all night, with strong wind. So after lunch we all headed out for some outdoor fun. Jimmy enjoy a lot to be pulled in Seba's Stiga sledge and it's always a problem to bring him back home ( or I should say drag him back home). So Milla and I started walking back and forth in our street pulling him. The first time we passed in front of the house he declared ' Not inside mom, lt's walk for a little while more '. So we walked back and forth two more times. At the third he called me ' Mom, let's go back home for a while now .. I'm frozen ' eheheh so veeeery sweet.
But of course inside we went, and to warm up I thought that it could be a good idea baking something. As usual James is eager to help me...

 Woderful, the world covered in a soft blanket

He is such clever and sweet helper, learning everyday something new, but mostly learning the meaning of being a family : togetherness.

So after a couple of hours we had several goodies ...

Shortbread cookies (before and after cooking )

And two loaves of bread, one of normal shape one braided ( my first attempt, it turned out well in my opinion )

This time I cooked the bread at a lower temperature for longer time (180C for 50 minutes ) and the result was a super soft bread with a delicate crispy crust .

Delicious !

Have a nice week !!!

Unexpected gifts

It happened again. The kindness of strangers. This is the fourth Christmas we spend here, away from our homeland, away from our relatives and longtime friends. It could feel a bit sad and lonely. But every year we've been surprised by unexpected gifts. So after the incredible kindness showed by some of the guests we had during the open house weekends ( four different people, three of whom we didn't know , brought us a present during the visit ) today poured on us so many gifts that it's stll hard to believe ...

 Incredible isn't it ? One present for each child and one for the entire family. We couldn't believe it and we feel so humbled and gratefull for this. And if this wasn't enough for today our friends who own a restaurant in town gave us some freshly made sushi ...

 I have to admit i was very skeptical about sushi, but after tasting it with this yummi ginger and soy sauce ... well I was wrong, it's quite good and more then worth eating ( or over eat as in my case ;) )
Well the miracle of Christmas once again, baby Jesus is about to come and the unexpected kindness remind us what Christmas is all about: LOVE

Here the last two days following the light, then the new moon and the solstice will draw a new start. Light will come back. and no, before you ask I find it perfectly fine loving Jesus and honouring the light and celebrating the solstice. I've come to believe that Jesus' birth is in this period because HE is a light as well so if I was the Almighty and I could chose the perfect moment for my son, the Christ, the Light, to come on earth, I think I'd chose this time of the year as well.

Sunrise at 9:21

Sunset at 15:07

Hours of daylight 5:45

same as yesterday