Not Quite Over

My Christmas Tree is still up. Yes it is. And it’s staying up for awhile longer. Because I have decided to follow the Swedish custom where Christmas does not end until St Knut’s day, which in Sweden is celebrated on the 13th of January - the 20th day of Christmas. On this day the Christmas tree is taken down, any Christmas sweets are finished, and there may be dancing around the tree before being disposed of (!). I can’t promise dancing, but it suits me just fine to leave my tree up for another week! I took down most of the other decorations around the house today, but I am glad I get to enjoy my tree for a bit longer!

And it provides an opportunity for an emergency blip! This is a lovely poodle decoration that 2 work friends bought me a couple of years ago when Dolly was still with me. I treasure it and it has a central place on my tree.

In other news - it’s my last day off before returning to work tomorrow. I’m still not feeling great but I will soldier on. Not sure why this virus has been so difficult to shake! That’s another good reason for not taking down the tree yet - I just haven’t had the energy!

The main event today was watching the last day of the Cross Country Tour de Ski from Val di Fiamme in Italy. Both the men and the women endured a gruelling 9k race, with the last 3.5k going straight UP the Alpe Cermis, at an average incline of 12% with the steepest part 28%. Super exciting to watch! I watched it live in the afternoon and then a friend came over later specifically to watch it with me on catch-up. We watched yesterday’s two races before dinner and today’s two races after dinner. A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an evening!

If you want to see highlights of today’s final races you can see the Ladies race here and the Men’s race here.