Stockholm is dark this time of year. We get about seven hours of daylight now and by Christmas that number will fall just below six hours. If that weren't enough, we also had one of the darkest Novembers in history. As of three days ago Stockholm had had 3.5 hours of sunlight ALL MONTH! We were blessed with a few more hours this weekend which I think may have even doubled that number bringing us to approximately 7 hours of sun for November. Things were getting gloomy. I decided to get the tree up early so we could add a little cheer and light to our dark Nordic lives.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, everything in Sweden is expensive and Christmas trees (Julgranar) are no exception. Last year the cheapest one I saw was 450 kr, which is about $70 Canadian. So, my middle guy and the dog went to the park and collected some sticks. We tied them in the shape of a tree and hung it in the living room. The decorations are Brian Gluckstein Home, that we brought with us from Toronto so the only thing we paid for this year was twine. This DIY tree is bright, makes no mess, takes up no space, cost nothing and no tree has been chopped down. I think we may have a new family tradition.
