The fourth candle of the Advent wreath is lit today. It is called the Angel Candle, to remind us of the angels who heralded Christ's birth.

A Joyous Winter Solstice to all the pagans out there!

The Winter Solstice is the time of the longest night and the shortest day. The dark triumphs today but only briefly, for the Solstice is also a turning point. From now on (until the Summer Solstice, at any rate), the nights grow shorter and the days grow longer. Really I think this is the day that Lucia should be celebrated, but tradition dictates otherwise and who am I to argue with that?

In Nynäshamn today, the daylight lasted from about 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the sun just above the horizon taking up the edge of the sky. The winter light here is amazing! We are lucky here that we get that much daylight. Further north in Sweden, especially in places like Kiruna which lies far above the polar circle, it is dark 24 hours a day. The sun sets at the same time as it rises! I'm not sure that I could manage to live there.

So, this is the shortest day of the year, the sun is already gone and it's only 3pm. So what do we do on this day? Well, as the Swedes celebrate Christmas on the 24th, Christmas food is being prepared and the children make Christmas sweets like knäck (a kind of toffee), chokladkola (chocolate truffles), ischoklad (literally ice-chocolate), engelsk fudge (English fudge) and of course the seven different types of cakes and biscuits that should be on the table.

I thought I might try making two sweets - ischoklad and knäck. So I read about making knäck. It sounded really complicated, but I wanted to try out this traditional Swedish toffee prepared at Christmas. I mentioned it to Lars-Göran, who groaned about mess and looked most unenthusiastic.

Luckily, I stumbled on a microwave version of it that looks no mess and takes only 8 minutes! Couldn't ask for more, really. So I bought cream, light syrup (a bit like golden syrup), almonds, sugar and made up a batch. I just love the smell of toffee - it brings back a lot of childhood memories, even though this is not like the clear toffee we make for the school fete!

Then on to ischoklad. I've seen these for sale in the supermarkets and wondered what was so special about them. Having checked the recipe, I'm still wondering!

It is basically dark cooking chocolate, melted in a double saucepan with copha, then poured into tiny foil paper cases. The only English recipe I found was flavoured with coffee or grated orange rind, but apparently "we don't do that in Sweden". I can't say that they sound very nice, but then I'm not really fond of chocolate (except for Tim-Tams, Violet Crumbles and Cherry Ripes!).

We got ourselves an early Christmas present yesterday when we bought a new digital camera. We have an older model that annoys my dear husband SO MUCH. I spotted him checking out websites about digital cameras and he assured me he was NOT thinking of getting another one - he was "just interested" in seeing what was around. Of course, I should have known better! Last time, when he was "not looking for a yacht", I found myself in Göteborg in mid-November, aboard a yacht he had just purchased with the grinning man telling me we were going to sail her the 550NM home!

So yesterday, when I had planned the ultimate couch potato day, he greets me mid-afternoon with the "Now don't get mad, but..." speech. We had to go pick up a bargain digital camera that he'd just found on the net! It's cold, dark, 3pm and we have to go to Västerås! That entails a train trip to Huddinge to borrow a car (1.5 hours), a drive from there to Västerås (150 kms away!) then back again. We got home at 10pm, but he's really happy with his new toy - a Canon Powershot A-40.

I also ran into an Aussie guy I knew at Södra Station. He thought it was me, but followed us just to make sure he heard the Australian twang before he approached. So, we chatted with Phillip about his new attempt to get Aussie Rules going in Stockholm, with the new Stockholm Club. We also discussed Australia Day and the idea of having a beach party at the Dancin' Dingo. Sounds good to me!

Anyway, off to gobble some knäck and watch the snow falling in the darkness. There is a blizzard forecast for later, so it looks like it will be a very white Christmas here. As it should be!

And in my series of useless Christmas facts: In the Christmas carol, "Twelve Days of Christmas", the total number of gifts that "my true love gave to me" is 364.