Post by Carolyn on Nov 27, 2003 5:18:03 GMT -5
Okay, who here lives with Swedish grinches? Are you dealing with it, ignoring it or going along with it?
My husband, a semi-grinch, was saying the other day that his feelings about Jul had been formed by his family and I think that's true of all of us. His mother was not a terribly warm person, but was definitely a perfectionist, and Jul to him became a time of stress.
Then he and his ex were divorced while his kids were still small, so he had them for Julafton and she had them for Juldag, so Julafton, he would set up the tree and do all the cooking and of course, he adored having his kids with him, but then the next day, you're left with an empty apartment, left-overs and you're alone.
What I really found out is that he DOES love Jul, like Aussie commented in her post under the Jul markets thread. Because when all was said and done, once we were married and he wasn't alone anymore after the kids left, he could enjoy the ham and the lights and such. He still hates the over-commercialization of it, but I agree with him there. And if left to himself, we would only have the jul ljus in one window and the tree the day before Julafton and the glögg.
Me, I bought some sort of Jul curtains (sort of because they don't have overly Christmasy designs, but are in a lovely red and green), and they do cheer up the apartment. We have candles for all the windows. He's going after the moss for the advent candles and I bought the mushrooms. I brought back some multi-colored lights for the balcony (and an adapter) and got out my old Christmas ornaments for the tree. We still won't put it up until closer to Jul, but it'll be up a week before, WITH silver icicles too. We have a wreath for the door as well, and my huge silver bowl, polished, with clementines and oranges in it.
We're not spending a lot for Jul, other than for the food. I did most of the shopping for the kids in the States, we're doing a joint gift for ourselves (a DVD-VHS player) and then a couple of smaller things for the tree.
My husband, a semi-grinch, was saying the other day that his feelings about Jul had been formed by his family and I think that's true of all of us. His mother was not a terribly warm person, but was definitely a perfectionist, and Jul to him became a time of stress.
Then he and his ex were divorced while his kids were still small, so he had them for Julafton and she had them for Juldag, so Julafton, he would set up the tree and do all the cooking and of course, he adored having his kids with him, but then the next day, you're left with an empty apartment, left-overs and you're alone.
What I really found out is that he DOES love Jul, like Aussie commented in her post under the Jul markets thread. Because when all was said and done, once we were married and he wasn't alone anymore after the kids left, he could enjoy the ham and the lights and such. He still hates the over-commercialization of it, but I agree with him there. And if left to himself, we would only have the jul ljus in one window and the tree the day before Julafton and the glögg.
Me, I bought some sort of Jul curtains (sort of because they don't have overly Christmasy designs, but are in a lovely red and green), and they do cheer up the apartment. We have candles for all the windows. He's going after the moss for the advent candles and I bought the mushrooms. I brought back some multi-colored lights for the balcony (and an adapter) and got out my old Christmas ornaments for the tree. We still won't put it up until closer to Jul, but it'll be up a week before, WITH silver icicles too. We have a wreath for the door as well, and my huge silver bowl, polished, with clementines and oranges in it.
We're not spending a lot for Jul, other than for the food. I did most of the shopping for the kids in the States, we're doing a joint gift for ourselves (a DVD-VHS player) and then a couple of smaller things for the tree.