Pepparkakor

All morning it was -21 C (-6 F), which they tell me is really too cold to enjoy any outdoor sports or other activities. The sun was shining beautifully, though, so we were enjoyed looking out. We kept up hope that it would warm up so we could go skiing later.

Since we were stuck inside, we decided to make pepparkakor with Monica, Ebba, and Anna-Greta. The girls REALLY enjoyed it! Monica brought over all the supplies last night and we put the dough together so we could chill it over night. This morning we all gathered around Anna-Greta and Eskil's kitchen table to start rolling out the dough.

The girls making pepparkakor

Ebba would roll out the dough extremely thin and give some to each girl. Linnea was very good at using the cookie cutters and had an agenda about which ones she would use in which order. She made sure we had the appropriate number of each shape: goats, horses, trees, tomtar, stars, flowers. 

Rolling out the dough

Annali, on the other hand, delighted in using any of the cookie cutters, cutting out a shape of dough, picking it up, and placing it directly into her mouth. She skipped the entire baking process, but she was elated by it! Everyone agrees that the finished cookies are very tasty, too!

Making some flowers!

OK, the shape is made. Next step: eat it!

 

The dough's so yummy!

After pepparkakor baking/eating it was still -20 C (-4 F) outside, so we stayed in, ate some lunch, put Annali down for a nap, and played a little bit with Linnea. When we'd had enough of being inside, Ebba, Kevin, Linnea, and I went outside and put on our cross-country skis. Linnea picked it right up! She was such a good little skier! Kevin and I got the hang of it pretty quickly, too. We had only skied down Östlingsvägen for a couple blocks when Kevin had to turn around because his feet were too cold - not enough pairs of socks! The rest of us continued on down to the other end of Östlingsvägen to a little park (about 300 yards from Anna-Greta & Eskil's house).  We skied around the park for 10 or 15 minutes more, and then Ebba decided her feet were too cold, too. So we all turned back. Thankfully, despite the frigid conditions Linnea and I both managed to stay quite warm, including our fingers and toes - I guess it's in our genes!!



"Yow-meowl, yow-meowl...." Linnea and Kevin did exceptionally well for their first time on skis!

When we came back in it was time to get ready for dinner. Peter (Ebba's ex-boyfirend) came and joined us. It was so fun to meet Peter in person, since we had only met on Skype previously. We had such a wonderful meal and a great visit, followed by fika and glögg, of course!



Eskil and his "little pearl"

Anna-Greta, Ebba, Peter, Eskil, Kevin, and Linnea just finishing dinner