Yesterday, the 24th, is the day to celebrate Christmas for John and I. We open presents, we eat Christmas-buffé, tradition tells us to watch Donald Duck and on the 25th Christmas is basically over (apart from the leftovers, the decoration and enjoying the gifts). It is not the same day as the people in Singapore (and other parts of the world) celebrate Christmas. Therefore it was fitting to have our friends, Ash and Steve, to join us in the evening.
John had been out buying two types of meat to make his own meatballs and two baguettes from the small mall just outside the condo. Later he travelled to IKEA (I stayed behind since I was not sure if I had fully recovered from being sick) and bought herrings, salmon, Kalle's caviar, mustard and dill sauce, potato gratin, lingon berry jam and mashed apples. He also bought julmust (which I can not translate and so it seems can nobody else). Ash and Steve brought with them two different cheeses, sausages and ingredients to some of the former mentioned dishes.
While John cooked for us I entertained our guests with two rounds of Sushi Go Party. A board game we recently were given as a Christmas gift from John's sister's fiance. It was fun to play with new players. Ash was very urgent during the rounds and made the game fast and smooth. She won one of the games in the end (I can not remember if I won the first). Then dinner was ready and John instructed our friends what to take on the first round of a traditional Swedish Christmas-plate. The cold plate. I could not remember if I liked herring or not so I did not take it onto my plate, but after stealing a small piece from John I was surprised to realise I actually liked it and had some more. The must-have ham was missing. We could have bought it from a local grocery store, but the size for the price was not worth it. I really miss it though and I know John does too. Then we had the hot plate and John put everything on their plates while I quickly assembled mine and got out of the way. Food was tasty and I was very full in the end. Ash and Steve seemed to like it. Steve compared it to Thanksgiving dinner, but I have no idea what you eat during that holiday so I did not know if it was comparable.
After dinner we moved to the sofa just a few steps from the table. There lied a pile of wrapped gifts that were about to be opened. John had not been able to contain himself that morning and forced me (I was very willing) to open my gifts before everybody else. (I do not have a picture of this.) I received a Nintendo 3DS XL with Mario already installed and Pokémon Sun, Animal Crossing and Kirby: Planet Robobot. Without knowing it I wanted this. I felt ridiculously happy! I have an old GameBoy SP - still functional with a some games - but it was getting ancient and I could not find any new games to go with it. This is why John gave me this gift and why I was so mad he gave it to me, because it was perfect. He gave me the most thoughtful gift he could ever have given. I have spent the whole Sunday with my eyes on the screen. Back to the evening and when our friends were there to open presents with us. Steve got some Zelda stuff from Ash, Ash got some Harry Potter stuff from Steve. To John I had bought a luminous Newton cradle which sadly does not work perfectly, but it does work. The light is cosy and the sound it makes is annoying. He also got a wooden catapult that he has to build himself, only I had had no time to buy wood glue so he could not assemble it immediately. They were good gifts he said but I knew it was not a good as his was for me. This is one of the reasons I dislike Christmas - he always gives me something perfect, something I really want, something thoughtful and loving. I never find the perfect gift, never know what he needs or wants. I am completely lost during this holiday.Steve had gotten a Zelda-themed Monopoly which we decided to play (much to John's complains since he does not like the game). Ash had a bad first round. Steve moved first, bought a place and then Ash landed there her next turn. This happened three or four times during the first time around. Most of us were lucky enough to avoid all of John's houses and so he did not make a lot of money. I made some deals and traded cards with both John and Steve to make things happen. If not then nobody would have been able to build anything. I enjoyed the game, possibly because I was the luckiest. In the end I was declared the winner.
It was getting late but nobody was done with the day. We started up the Vive and Steve was the first one to enter virtual reality. He spent a long time in job simulator, working in an office and not keeping it tidy. I was on cat-watch; sitting in the living room and making sure Ymir did not walk in the way of the reality-blind player that walked around on the carpet. Over at the computer John and Ash laughed at what Steve was doing. Then Ash got to try for a while. She proclaimed she was terrible at games in general and it showed. There was a lot of shouting and laughing from her side whilst I heard advise coming from John and Steve who were watching what she was doing at the computer screen. Lastly John had a quick go at the same game as she played; a zombie game I have yet to play.
Around three in the night it was time for them to go home. There was hugging and thanking, Ymir got some cuddles from the guests (I am not sure if they came to be with us or just to snuggle the cat) and then they were gone. We made the counter cat-safe and headed of to bed. I fell asleep very fast whilst John could not. He lay awake playing Pokémon on my Nintendo for a few hours. Eventually he also entered the dreamland and Christmas was officially over.
Sötnosar! ❤
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