This year, Susanna and I decided to try something different. Instead of all of us going to Sweden over the summer, we took a family vacation to St. Louis. We came to visit Susanna’s family in Sweden for Christmas instead of having a Christmas at home.

We started our journey in New London on the 23rd of December. We planned an afternoon Amtrak train to Boston. And that morning the train service decided to start our trip with delays. Electrical problems caused delays from all the trains out of New York City going north. Luckily, Amtrak let us change tickets to an earlier scheduled train, which still arrived after our planned departure.

The rest of the trip went smoothly. The security line in Boston, and the passport control in Iceland were both thankfully short. Izzy even slept for an hour or so on the flight from Iceland to Sweden. A short taxi ride later we were at our hotel, with time for Izzy and I to grab lunch at Max Burgers while Susanna took a short nap.

Christmas day started slow. We didn’t plan to meet Susanna’s family until the afternoon for dinner. Susanna and Izzy walked the mostly-closed mall next to the hotel, and I took a mostly pleasant walk around the city. I tried to get some pictures, but a wet and overcast day presented challenges.

Thursday we drove to Sävsjöström with Susanna’s parents and plan to spend the rest of our vacation there. I had been expecting snow and cold, but so far that hasn’t been the case. While it is overcast and damp, it is otherwise pleasant for walking around. At least for the 6 hours of daylight this time of year.