Okay, so last time it was the Twatathlon. Which as we have all come to understand was slightly… uncool. (In my eyes, it’s still debatable.) But this time I did it for real.
…ish.
I wanted to claim I had exerted myself to maximum capacity (down to Aldi and back with a bag of frozen goods is probably the limit) and triumphed over bodily barriers and finally gone and completed a triathlon. But then I realised there really is a quite a leap between artistic license and bare faced lies. I mean, I did travel 2307.8 miles. But instead of swimming, running and cycling I was stuffing my face, slurping on snaps and shopping, shopping, shopping.
In short it was Christmas Day x 3.
Now to be quite fair, this achievement requires stamina and practice too. Just a different kind.
I was lucky enough to spend ten glorious days in Stockholm celebrating the run up to Christmas with all of its white snowy glory, Christmas lights and Swedish charm. The glögg, knäck and pepparkakor were only the tip of the food iceberg and after tasting the caramel/fudge/nougat mix that is knäck, my sweet tooth took a nose dive and I am lucky to still have a full set of teeth. Christmas Eve Eve and its namesake: Christmas Eve were spent at the in-laws and on Christmas morning (a good 4 hours before sunrise) we awoke and made our way to the airport to arrive just in time for a Christmas dinner with my parents. Our third full on, all the trimmings Christmas dinner.
With paper christmas hats on, a mountain of charades in hand (which (un)fortunately never made it to the light of day) top jean button undone and our stomachs almost bursting point we moved on to present swapping. The credit crunch had definitely set in this year and with a worried stammer I was quick to explain my “half-made, half-bought” present philosophy. Handmade cookbooks, CDs, photo albums and calendars all featured and also some books, dvds and sweets to tick the “bought” box of the shopping list.
We also decided to bring a bit of Sweden to England and gave rhymes with the presents and as our traditions merged this year became the most controversial but special Christmas yet.
It was definitely with reluctance that we packed our bags and got in the car back to Sheffield, it’s always such a nice feeling when you go home and see your family and friends. But I guess we have come back to spend a New Year with friends who feel like family.
So, hoping you all had a lovely Christmas and here’s wishing you all a very happy New Year!
