Geography lesson and then some. ;o)

Both Virginia Gal and Maidink thought that Sweden is completely covered with snow during winter. Well, it aint so, although Sweden lies north of Spain, France and Germany. In fact, it lies north to most of Europe.

The southern part of Sweden (Scania) where I live, is surrounded by water on three sides and as I live only about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the west coast, the climate is quite mild during winter. Another 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) inland, it's a quite different story with a significant drop in temperatures.

Scania rarely receives any large amounts of snow until mid-january but it's still quite cold, especially if it's windy, and people from northern Sweden even say it's colder than "at home". This is due to the higher level of air humidity in the south. A temperature of minus 10 degrees Celsius (26.6 F) in the south is about equivalent to -20 degrees (-4 F) in the north. It's warmer down here but it feels a lot colder than it really is.

We're at about the same longitude as Moscow, Glasgow and Dawson Creek (thanks Google Earth) but I would bet you the weather in those places is quite different. Usually winter is just one very long fall here. Some of this can also be blamed on the Gulf Stream.

But enough with geography. Let's get to the essentials = Christmas presents.

1. LazyWorm got a toolbox with lots of tools from me, two pairs of satin boxer shorts, shower gel, shampoo and candy from MIL & FIL, men's perfume from RedHead, a cool baseball cap from RazorTongue, a hammer and a bicycle repair kit from CartoonBoy. From everyone he also received a couple of gift vouchers. He was very pleased with everything.
2. RazorTongue got an indoors bandy club and a computerized chess board from me, nice perfume, deodorant and a warm sweater from RedHead, a gift voucher from LazyWorm, a big plush monkey from CartoonBoy and vouchers and candy from MIL & FIL. She also seemed very happy with what she got.
3. CartoonBoy got gift certificates for computer games, some chocolate and a bathrobe from me and ReadHead, a reaction testing game from LazyWorm, "roaring slippers" from RazorTongue and a bunch of vouchers and chocolates from MIL & FIL. He was, as always, very happy.
   
4. LittleAngel got a lot of toys and clothes. She didn't care about anything but the wrapper. The only toy I didn't like was the little vacuum cleaner. As if she was going to be a housekeeper for someone...
5. RedHead got a luxurious bathrobe from me, some school projects from the kids and I don't remember what MIL &FIL gave her. A heart-shaped pillow and a lantern?
6. I mustn't have been especially nice this year, since I didn't get the Ferrari I wanted, but I did get a flask of Eau de Toilette, a lottery ticket and a pig from RedHead and nothing from the kids. *sob* I've been working my butt off taking care of them and they forgot to buy me anything... *sob* Oh well, they didn't get any money to buy me anything, so I saved a couple of bucks. And the pig I got was out of marzipan. Yummmmmmy! :)