Aby-a-Day – 25 December 2020: God Jul, Allihopa! (Friday Flashback)

This morning, Facebook reminded me of Christmas three years ago. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was our last Jul with Logan, and it was also our last Christmas at Björn’s mother’s house.

We took the train to Jönköping Julafton morning. It was fairly chilly, so he wore Jacoby’s old snowflake hoody.

Jake had a snazzy new sweater of his own.

Jake had been to Björn’s mom’s house once before, but this was Logan’s first time.

As I’ve said before, Björn&’s mom always made the perfect traditional Swedish Julbord, and it was marvellous. We had the cold courses (hard-boiled eggs with caviar, pickled herring, and smoked salmon)…

…mustard-crusted ham, Jul cheese and red beet salad…

…prinskorv and meatballs (before cooking, here)…

…and sausage, cabbage rolls and Janssons frestelse, which is basically scalloped potatoes that are julienned instead, with anchovies added. It’s delicious, I promise.

Anyway, I had found this special Jul apple at the grocery store, and brought it to Björn’s mom because I thought she’d like it.

Christmas morning, Logan was sitting on a kitchen table chair, and he looked so cute I had to pose him with the apple. The rest is (Facebook) history.

Aby-a-Day – 24 December 2020: Från oss alla till er alla, en riktigt god Jul! (Thursday Things)

Well…it’s been a memorable year, that’s for sure.

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a year that so globally interesting.

But enough of that…time to watch Kalle Anka and eat and drink too much. Happy Christmas and God Jul.

Aby-a-Day – 23 December 2020: Wordless Wednesday (Gone but not forgotten)

Aby-a-Day – 22 December 2020: Catty Christmas cards (Not Really Cartoon Tuesday)

Okay. Now, I know these aren’t cartoons. But I have been working on colouring Dashiell Hamilton every day. I want to get the green of his suit just right, and it’s taking a lot longer than I thought…and I haven’t even started on colouring Dash himself! I am trying to do as much as I can in Procreate…but yesterday I got a new Paperlike screen protector, and let me tell you, it is a game changer! It really feels like I’m drawing on real paper, and it is so much better than drawing on glass. Even though it’s digital, it still feels organic. I’ve also ordered a set of Pen Tips, which should also improve the drawing experience. While Paperlike and Pen Tips ship worldwide, they are based in Germany and the Netherlands respectfully, so I don’t have to pay any import taxes!

Since Dash-Ham isn’t finished enough to post an update, I’m sharing some Christmas cards I’ve received. The above card arrived today from my Sverak club AbSolut Kattklubb. That is one lovely blue Somali.

This card came a couple of days ago from my friend Donna in Massachussetts. I think these Birmans are adorable. At least, I think they’re Birmans…hard to tell when you can’t see their feet!

This cute little Siamese postcard came today, also from Donna. I love that she keeps sending me postcards…it’s nice to have physical notes from friends sometimes, especially during a pandemic.

Aby-a-Day – 17 December 2020: Merry Fishmas (Thursday Things)

Pickled Herring is one of the traditional foods on the traditional foods on the Swedish Julbord (Christmas table)…so of course there’s a version of Julsill for cats!

It’s made by Mjau, the “low-rent” version of Bozita, which I’ve mentioned before (Both Bozita and Mjau are made by Doggy AB in Vårgårda). The main difference between the two brands seems to be the range of flavours and the ingredients labels. Mjau lists “meat and animal by-products” and “fish and fish by-products,” with 4% actual herring. Bozita lists the specific animals used, and doesn’t include “by-products.”

But do the cats mind if they get a little Julsill along with their raw? Apparently not…well, except maybe for Izaak.

Aby-a-Day – 16 December 2020: Wordless Wednesday (Jul katter)

Aby-a-Day – 12 December 2020: Izaak meets Bruce the Spruce (Silly Saturday)

Seven years ago this Christmas, I found Bruce the Spruce, the plush Christmas tree who dances and sings Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. We didn’t put up all our decorations last year, but we bought a new tree this year, and we brought up about half our decorations from the basement.

Bruce was one of the decorations. I don’t think Lorelai had seen him before.

I don’t think Izaak had seen him before, either.

Given his plushie obsession, Zak was fairly fascinated.

Or frightened. Could be either.

Nah…I’m going with fascinated.

Don’t stick your tongue out at Bruce, Izaak!

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year (and watch out for the Jólakötturinn!)

Hey there…remember us? Sorry it’s been a while…after we brought Dashiell home from Finland, I came down with, of all things, walking pneumonia! Björn and Kalle were sick with coughing, too…but of course, mine had to turn into pneumonia.

After that, we had a couple of little veterinary issues with some of the cats. Nothing major…Dash had an ear infection, Lorelai had a runny eye, and Alfred had an odd coughing spell. All of them are fine…but it was a lot to deal with all at once. I also had some other health issues in that space of time – nothing major, but between me and the cats, it was mentally and physically exhausting. Oh, and I also got a new iPhone 11 Pro, and getting the hang of the fancy camera took some practice (it’s awesome, by the way, better even than my DSLR).

Then, of course, we had some cat shows, including one in Turku, Finland. We had entered Dash, but the entry cut-off was in October, and I wasn’t sure his ear would be completely recovered in time. Also, the show didn’t really count for him, and I didn’t want to risk the round-trip ferry ride to cause a relapse. So it was just Izaak and Rory. But they both earned their International Championship titles, and Zak was Nominated on the first day, so it was an excellent show. The very next weekend, we had the mini-show at our DjurMagazinet on Saturday with Zak, Rory and Zak, and then another of the photo shoots on Sunday with everyone. That was a five-ring circus!

One thing that came of spending all day at a pet shop was that Zak picked out his very own new favourite mousie – a Christmas one that jingles!

This is the best shot I could get of him fetching it. Sorry. I’m actually sick again right now with a staph infection, on antibiotics that make me nauseous…GREAT fun at Christmas! Oh, well…at least I won’t gain much holiday weight. The cute thing is that Zak’s been bringing his mousie to me over and over to distract me from the nausea.

Because of all that, Christmas really kind of snuck up on us. We put up our Swedish window candles, and our wreath on the front door, but it wasn’t until Monday night that we put up the stockings.

Not having Jacoby here had a bigger impact on my holiday cheer than I ever expected. He was always such a big part of my Christmases…even the one I spent away from him, in Sweden. I just couldn’t summon the energy to put up the tree and all our decorations. Yes, we have Angel, and Freddy, and Zak, and Rory and wonderful, wonderful Dash (who is friends with everyone)…but Christmas without Jake seems…strange. I’m sure it will be better next year.

Which is not to say our Christmas is sad – not at all! After we put all the presents in the stockings, Freddy noticed that some of them had treats in them, and tried to get them down! Click on the unfortunate black square above to see the video in a new tab…sorry for the vertical orientation, but it was a sort of vertical situation. Also be warned that there is some rather bad language in the background; Channel Six was showing Die Hard for Jul, and they don’t censor movies on TV here.

I’ll be back next week, and, hopefully, The Daily Abyssinian with actually be daily again!

Shout-out to Summer!

I sent a few gifts to our Somali friend Summer in California for a (belated) Christmas gift. I know Summer and her roommates Binga and Boodie LOVE the European cat treats. And I also remembered that Summer’s human admired the miniature cat skeleton toy I posted about on a Miniature Monday, and when I bought mine, I ordered a few extra for friends and family, so I sent one along to her, knowing it would be appreciated.

You can read all about what they all thought of their gifts on today’s post on Summer’s blog.

Aby-a-Day – 7 Januari: My Christmas Present (Miniature Monday)

This year, we had a small Christmas, because I bought tickets to the Red Sox-Yankees games next summer in London, and Björn bought us a new television. But we did do some small gifts and stocking stuffers to each other, and Björn’s main gift to me was a 4D Vision Cat Anatomy Model

Well, of course I loved it! In fact, I sat down and assembled it on the spot.

Luckily, living in Sweden has given me a pretty good grasp on navigating pictorial assembly instructions.

But what was really cool was the information included on the instruction sheet. Like random cat factoids.

And cat anatomy illustrated (using pictures of the model’s pieces) along with a felid size comparison chart.

Then there’s a little guide to cat communication and body language, how cats land on their feet, and an illustration of how retractible claws work.

Finally, there’s an organ-by-organ breakdown of all the parts of a cat, again using the model pieces (except for the eye).

Here is my model, completed.

My favourite part is, the model cat is a female! And she has kittens inside! Aren’t they cute? #theylooklikeabys…

Izaak wanted to meet the model.

I don’t think it went well…

…In fact, he seemed a little freaked out. Was it the kittens, Zak?

Aby-a-Day – 5 Januari: Decorating with cats (Swedish Saturday)

We have this Victorian-style Christmas cat garland as part of our Jul decorations. It looks great with our kitchen curtains…

…but getting them up there in the first place was quite the challenge.

Mainly because Lorelai insisted with helping Björn with them.

And as you can see…she was very helpful.

Although, I am not sure she was as helpful as she thought she was.

Still…at the end of the day, we got the kitty garland up, so we won? Or something?

Aby-a-Day – 28 December: Remembering my Christmas kitten (Friday Flashback)

Every year about this time, I have to remember my Christmas kitten, Gun-Hee.

We collected him on 15 December 2006, only 10 days before Christmas.

I’ll never forget the way he discovered climbing the Christmas tree.

He was so proud of himself!

And now, 12 years later, Gun-Hee is still in my Christmas tree every year…thanks to this Fancy Feast frame ornament.

Aby-a-Day – 26 December: Wordless Wednesday (Izaak’s Christmas miracle)

Aby-a-Day – 25 December: The sole of Christmas (Cartoon Tuesday)

In Sweden, the main Christmas celebrating is done on 24 December. After the ritual of Donald Duck, the presents are opened and then dinner is eaten.

The traditional Julbord, which Björn’s mother orchestrated every year to perfection, consists of pickled herring, smoked salmon, hard-boiled eggs with kaviar,

the Julskinka (ham with mustard), boiled potatoes, Janssons Frestelse (a sort of potato casserole with anchovies), cabbage rolls (which I can totally get behind because they’re also a Russian thing), handmade köttbullar (meatballs – ours were moose, lamb and wild boar),

Prinskorv (sort of like hot dogs, but better), a ball of cheese and bread, and a cheesecake.

This was our first year assembling the feast ourselves, and the first we have done at home instead of going to Jönköping. Beer, wine and shots of aquavit are usually drunk before, during, and after the meal, but this year we also added my kickass eggnog with rum, tequila, whiskey and hazelnut liqueur. Because, hey, let’s start our own traditions! (I also introduced the hanging and filling of stockings, which we open on Christmas day, because that was MY tradition. I still have the stocking I was given on my very first Christmas, when I was six months old.

The one Swedish Jul tradition I am not completely onboard with is the Christmas Day dinner of lutfisk served with potatoes and peas. Not that lutfisk is bad…it’s just bland. It’s basically like eating hard-boiled egg whites. Which is great, I love hard-boiled eggs. Just not necessarily for Christmas dinner. And I don’t really like peas all that much, either. We would always eat it at Björn’s mom’s house…but this year, we are having goose and starting our own tradition (which also includes the oranges my mom always used to put in our stockings).

The first Christmas I spent in Sweden, I drew this silly little drawing of a “lute fisk” as a joke for Björn’s brother…and today I got the idea to update it a bit with Abys. And a Singapura. Just a sketch for now, but…Happy Christmas, everyone!

Aby-a-Day – 24 December: Julafton and Kalle Anka

It’s hard to describe how important watching Kalle Anka (Donald Duck) at 3pm on Christmas Eve is in Sweden.

Jacoby…seriously. It’s a big deal. Go sit down and watch.

That’s better.

Having experienced four Swedish Julaftons now, I can attest. Donald Duck and Christmas are a thing.

The annual broadcast, shown in Sweden since 1959 consists of Jiminy Cricket presenting about a dozen Disney cartoons from the 1930s to the 1960s, only a couple of which have anything to do with Christmas. There are “Silly Symphonies” shorts and clips from films like Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Jungle Book. The special is pretty much the same every year, except for the live introduction by a Swedish host and the addition of one new snippet from the latest Disney-produced movie (This year, it was a scene from Wreck-It Ralph Breaks the Internet and a scene from The Incredibles II).

The first year we lived here, we went to Jönköping and watched it at Björn’s mom’s house. We have done that every year…until this year. In a manner of speaking, Jake spent Christmas at Björn’s mom’s house before he even lived here.

This year, we had Julafton and watched Kalle Anka at home in Skövde.

But it was hard to not think of the Juls we had spent at Björn’s mom’s house. That defined Christmas in Sweden to me…and Christmas in general to Björn.

We did miss Björn’s mom’s Christmas tree, decorated with hand-cut paper hearts.

And also the weird straw pig that lived underneath the tree.

Björn’s mom also had this display of her collection of Dala horses. Jake tried to fit in.

“Ugh…these guys are a bunch of stiffs!”

Like his mini-me, Jake posed with the row of Tomten, too.

This Julafton was wonderful…but I miss the holiday in Jönköping.

Aby-a-Day – 23 December: “Momma, don’t make me wear that old thing again…I got them ugly sweater blues” (Silly Sunday)

If you’re a regular follower of this blog, you know that one of our holiday traditions is dressing up the cats. This year is no different. Especially since I have this little red dress with a plaid skirt that I knew would be just perfect for Lorelai.

And I was right. She rocked it.

…And then she went off to fight with Izaak, still wearing the dress…like the tomboy she is (She won, too).

Jacoby, of course, put on his Santa sweater and Mistletoe Hat like the pro that he is.

He gave me all his best poses.

I love him so much. Good old stable, reliable Jake.

What would I do without him?

Angel, too, is no stranger to the annual holiday dress-up routine.

She’s not quite the show-off Jake is, but she knows how to pose. Her ears aren’t really mad, though. That’s just the elastic on the hat.

She also knows that if she gives me a few good poses, I’ll take off the stuff and let her go.

Alfred didn’t get dressed up last year, so this was his first experience with our tradition.

It took him a second to really get the hang of it.

But he soon realised it really wasn’t all that bad. In fact, it was kind of fun!

“Freddy the Elf…what’s your favourite colour?”

Zak got to wear the infamous Christmas Tree Costume.

He…was less than thrilled.

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He decided he wanted to leave.

I tried to tell him that trees have roots and can’t move, but he wasn’t having any of it.

Logan also wore the tree costume last year.

Who do you think wore it better?

Aby-a-Day – 22 December: Julljusstaken (Swedish Saturday)

A huge holiday tradition in Sweden is putting up Julljusstaker in every window.

Jacoby, unsurprisingly, is a master at posing with the Jul candles.

He’s got the contemplative gaze and the slight smile down pat.

Somewhat more surprisingly, Angel is pretty good at it, too.

I mean, who knew, right?

“What? Don’t look so surprised…I AM an Abyssinian, you know!”

Alfred is also pretty good at it…

…when he can keep his focus and not get distracted.

I wasn’t sure how well Lorelai would pose with the candles (she flitters about almost as quickly as her caffeinated namesake), but she did really well.

She’s a natural!

For about a minute. Then she gets bored and goes off to do something else.

Izaak did pretty well, too, for his first time.

He’s got the “looking into the candles thoughtfully” thing down cold, for sure.

Until he, like Rory, gets bored. Kittens these days…no attention span whatsoever!

Even Pyret was pretty good at the candle-posing thing!

I never did get a photo of Logan with the Jul candles…but I did get one of him with this Jul Äppel!

Aby-a-Day – 18 December: Luciatåg (Cartoon Tuesday)

Last Thursday was St Lucia’s Day here in Sweden (Luciatåg), and it is another religious day turned into a secular celebration. December 13, under the old Julian calendar, was the date of the Winter Solstice, an important event in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries because the sun is only up for a few hours, and the nights are extremely long. After the Winter Solstice the sun returns and days get longer. The name Lucia actually derives from the Latin word for “light” (lux), so Swedes took Lucia’s saint’s day and turned it into a non-religious celebration of the lengthening of days and the return of light from the darkness of winter. Luciatåg becomes a part of the larger Jul celebration which officially starts on the first Sunday of December (although decorations start going up after Halloween) and continues through Christmas to Twelfth Night. By “tjugondag Knut” (20 days after Christmas), the decorations are taken down and the Christmas tree thrown out (if it’s a real tree), traditionally with a party but that custom has begun to disappear.

Lucia is celebrated by girls dressed as St. Lucia (being chosen to portray Lucia is quite an honour) and Lucia’s handmaidens (“tärnor”) and boys dressed as star boys (“stjärngossar”), gnomes (“tomtar”) and gingerbread men (“pepparkaksgubbar”) who sing Natten går tunga fjät (“Night Walks with a Heavy Step”) and other songs celebrating light.

So, naturally I had to draw Lorelai as Lucia and Izaak as a star boy…

Aby-a-Day: 16 December: A Christmas party cat show (Cat Show Singapura Sunday)

The little show we took Izaak to at our DjurMagazinet at the beginning of December was more than just a cat exhibition.

It was also a Christmas party. There were gingerbread cookies and Julmust and other traditional holiday treats. There was also a duo who sang Christmas songs and played the flute and guitar.

Whilst we were listening to the singers, we explored the store a bit.

I showed Zak the fish tanks first.

Zak really liked the big fish.

I think he liked them more than the little ones.

Next I showed him the gerbils.

At first, he didn’t notice them…

…but when he finally did…Oh, boy! I thought he would like real mousies since he is so fond of his Ikea mousies. We didn’t stay too long because I didn’t want to freak the rodents out too much. Also he was making the rabbits (in cages on the floor beneath the gerbils and hamsters) nervous, even though most of them were bigger than Zak!

Then we went to look at toys. I was amused by this squeaky carrot.

I ended up buying Zak a little Christmas bow tie, to join in the Christmas spirit.

Zak also schmoozed with the man who played the guitar.

I think Zak thought he might be Santa, because he was telling him what he wants for Christmas.

It was a really fun day out for all of us.

Aby-a-Day – 15 December: Jólakötturinn (Swedish Cat Show Saturday)

There’s an interesting holiday custom in Iceland: the Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn). According to legend, the Yule Cat eats people who don’t get new clothes for Christmas.

It’s actually kind of hilarious. When I went to Sweden for Christmas in 2015, I had a stopover in Reykjavik and I saw him for myself. It’s like happy little santas and elves, pretty white angels, sparkly snowflakes and snowmen…and then, WHAM! ANGRY BLACK CAT!

The Yule cat is associated with the Yule Lads, thirteen troll-imp brothers who show up starting 12 December and don’t leave until 6 January. They harass livestock, steal random objects, and generally do bad things. It’s so different from any other holiday tradition I know of. I absolutely love it.

Drinking is also a significant part of Scandinavian Jul celebrations…so naturally, Yule Cat bottle covers are a thing.

Of course, I had to buy some Yule Cats whilst I was there!

Since seeing the Yule Cat for myself in Iceland, those ornaments have become a part of my holiday tradition. He plays a prominent part of our decorations. And to that end, I made my own Yule Cat. When I discovered the Japanese Scratch cats, plushies with scowly faces and extended claws who generally look pissed at the world who were designed by artist Tamiho Maita, I knew the black one would make a marvelous Yule Cat. So I took one of Jacoby’s Santa hats and scarves, and voilà! One Yule Cat plushie!

On a whim, I brought him along to the cat show last weekend. He attracted a bit of attention, and one of the club’s members even posted his photo on the club’s Facebook event page!

I tried to get Lorelai and Izaak to pose with him in their show cage…it didn’t go as well as I hoped.

Look at Zak’s face! He looks like he’s trying to out-anger Angry Black Cat!