Celebrations

It's been three straight days of partying and celebrating here in Stockholm. The festivities started Wednesday night with the First Annual KTH Math Dept Dessert Contest. Myrna helped Chris and I judge eleven gourmet desserts and entertain my colleagues, whom she hadn't yet met. After a shy start, the award-winning Zebra cake put a smile on her face and sugar through her veins, and by the end of the night she was flirting with everyone. She did miss out on tasting the top prize, as there was a bit of whiskey in it (though that might have countered the sugar nicely....) We sadly forgot our camera, so the chocolate-faced Myrna with a spoon in each hand went undocumented.

Thursday the town was in high gear for the Nobel Prize Awards ceremony. The extravagent red-carpet affair, documented extensively in the newspapers probably didn't even enter the news radar of the US, who was busy reporting only on Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, which is the one not awarded in Stockholm, but rather Oslo. I sadly didn't manage to swing a ticket.

Friday morning just after 6 am, Myrna and I headed to KTH for the St Lucia Ceremony. December 13 (St Lucia Day) falls on a Sunday, so all the (morning) celebrations were held on Friday. We joined at least a hundred people at the university library for morning treats; Myrna helped me eat a St Lucia roll and shoved finger-fulls of raisins out of my Glögg and into her mouth. As the choir processed through the library, we managed to suddenly be sitting in the front row for their 20 minute show. Myrna, who had yet to fall back asleep, was particularly mesmerized by the singing and candles. Unfortunately, capturing her expression on camera was completely out of the realm. We got back home at about the time I would be leaving for work - but after breakfast it was off to Ikea for us to pick up some Christmas decorations and play with the toys.