The winter holidays are always a time to reflect and regenerate. This is my time to slow down and put things on hold for a while. I don’t know why I don’t read many books any more. I guess the telephone in my pocket has become a convenient, although less enriching substitute.  And even though I am constantly available to people through my “device”, I am not sure if the connections are any more substantive. I did not send out handmade holiday cards this year. I just did not make it a priority, but I don’t exactly know why. Again, I think the information overload that we are presented with every day may contribute to the lack of focus.  In any case, this blog is my poor substitute for personal cards. I wish everyone who reads this a wonderful happy holiday season and a joyous start of the 20’s.  May they be as roaring as the decade with the same name 100 years ago. 

I am in colorfully lighted Vilnius for a couple days. The Christmas tree in the Cathedral Square was voted “most beautiful” in Europe this year and it is lit up with a blue chess theme. I could see the sparkling tree from the airplane while flying here from Stockholm. Tonight, the fireworks will explode in the sky and bring in the new decade. In Vilnius, the lights seem flashier and more colorful than those of Stockholm. These two cities are sophisticated in different ways. Stockholm has the masculine fortitudinous architecture, with Lucia candles in the windows, and white lights adorning the sidewalks. Vilnius has the baroque facades in the Old Town, and the multicolor flashing Christmas trees, and more of a sense of change. I love both of these cities.

I got some cheap hockey ice skates this year. In Stockholm near our home, the Östermalms Idrottsplats has a huge ice rink, which is maintained beautifully and is cost-free for anyone to use. My nieces and I enjoyed improving our skating techniques, although when I tried skating backwards, I fell and hurt my knee. Now it is mostly better.  The best was the day after Christmas when the rink was sparkling smooth void of any people.

Moderna Museet, the Sunday after Christmas, was like a crowded subway station, but with a party-like atmosphere. This seemed the place to be, where friends bump into each other and unexpectedly reconnect. It is dark, but not terribly cold. At 8 degrees Celsius, Stockholm this winter is more or less the same temperature as San Francisco at night.  A big Christmas tree at home and lots of food and chocolate cookies make it the holidays.

I am a very fortunate person to have true homes in these vastly different cultures. The languages mix in my head, and I reorganize my wallets and telephones, but otherwise the transitions are quite seamless.  I don’t know what the next decade will bring: certainly more bright and dark times, but probably mostly a constant luminosity. Gott Nytt År! Laimingų Naujųjų Metų! Happy New Year!