Happy New Year!

Happy New 2009! As always, it feels really strange to say that year. It still seems really far away (just as the turn of the millennium feels like yesterday - I guess I'm getting old).

We spent New Years Eve with family and friends in Nyköping, south of Stockholm. They had friends visiting from Germany. Friends with a vineyard... So, both before and after dinner we had a great wine tasting session. ['Tasting' is here a bit of a loose term, since it meant 'drink a full glass', rather than the more common 'have a sniff and a sip and then spit it out'.] 12 different wines and one type of sparkling, of which 5 was before dinner... Well, if nothing else it loosened up any previous language barriers (although I'm really ashamed to notice how poor my German has become). It was quite an evening!

Having heard about how dressed up everyone was going to be (this is the one occasion every year that my dad wears his tuxedo!), Tim and I were a bit worried about what to wear to this formal event; not really in the mood (or having the economy for) buying or even renting anything new. In the end we borrowed clothes: Tim from my dad, and me from mum!!! (Yes, we are more than ashamed to say it fitted - and fitted far too well!) Tim had already borrowed a pair of formal (suit) trousers to wear at Christmas, and in the closets we also found a tuxedo shirt and a dark green blazer. A trip to the store to buy a bow tie, and Tim's outfit was complete! (He is very embarrassed about the fact that he could wear my dad's stuff, so I must add that dad hasn't been able to wear them for quite a number years. Just for the record!) I, on the other hand, went through mum's closets (or, rather, she went through them for me), and found a dark green ball gowny thing. Which, I am terrified to confess, fitted perfectly! Well, the skirt did. The top was quite a lot too big (hurray!), but a golden belt (also mum's, mid 60's) fixed that. So, there we were, dressed as my parents, very matching - both in green. Still not sure if it was a good thing or not. (And I'm really proud of Tim for putting up with all that - I'm not sure I would have appreciated going dressed up as his mum...) Well, turns out we didn't have to worry: Germans apparently have no sense of dress code! At least we made the effort.