It is with a little gloomy feeling I am writing today. We have had such a lovely time during the holidays, and I already miss them. Adam, Emma and Tilda went back to Sweden last Sunday, on the first day of the new year of 2023. It all got so quiet and with a realization that the four left of us, actually are living here. 😉 Of course I know our stay is timed, but nevertheless – at that particular moment, time is not quiet counted normally.

Something nice here – the weather! 63°F and sun, RealFeel like April. ☀️

We have experienced a lot during the holidays! We started out with a lunch at the Tavern on the green in Central Park, all seven of us. Absolutely good food, but I had missed the little thing about them only serving Christmas Eve menu on Christmas Eve with fixed menu prices… 😱. Also, Christmas Eve was sooooo frigid cold with nasty winds. Almost no people outside, but the sun was actually shining from a clear blue sky. ☀️

We celebrated “julafton” on Christmas Day on Dec 25, with homemade meatballs, herring, Kalles Kaviar, Janssons, salmon, knäckebröd, red cabbage, sour creme and small sausages. It was really great and later on in the afternoon we opened up our presents and in the evening we played lots of board games, which we did throughout the holiday. 🙂

Really boring was that Vira got sick in the evening and lay in bed the following five days 😦 She caught the flu, but happily she recovered just in time to celebrate NYE. 💯

While Vira stayed in bed, the rest of the gang explored the city from west to east and from north to south. We walked the High Line, and also did our own special walk from Spring Street entering the Williamsburg bridge through the Hasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg, climbing up the Brooklyn bridge down to the City Hall park, taking a left and checked out Pier 17 with the Tin Building and the market.

We also wanted to try some ice skating, in ANY park… We checked out the rinks at Central Park, the Rockefeller Center and the Bryant Park, but all of them were sooo fully booked and apparently the New Yorkers really love to queue! The weather offered a feeling of spring though.

We are getting closer to New Year´s Eve, so Johan and I went to Whole Foods for some shellfish, cod and veggies. We found everything we wanted, lobster for starter, scampi to the cod and with Elvira´s luxurious chocolate fondant for dessert! After dinner and a bunch of fun board games, we decided at 11.45 am to go down to our favorite local dive bar, Broom Street Bar. What a Party!

So, the big kids went back to Sweden last Sunday and since then some of us have had some tough times… Schools in New York commenced on Jan 3, basically one week before all Swedish schools do. This is the first year Olle will be in school on his birthday.

We are starting to become friends with our neighbor Andrew (with puppy :-)). He offered his air bed for the holidays, which we really appreciated when Vira got sick! We are soon giving the bed back, together with a good bottle of wine. I would love to walk his little dog Toffee. 🐶 😉

Tomorrow we have a birthday boy, already turning 17. 💗