A White Christmas, some hot chocolate and cake



A day out in Hellasgården was the Christmas 2012 plan. Just a half hour bus ride from central Stockholm, it is a very popular outdoor recreation area, both in summer and winter.  It had been snowing quite a bit for a couple of days leading up to Christmas and Hellasgården looked as pretty as a Christmas card. Snow on the trees, all over the ground,on the skiing slopes and the cottage roofs; walking trails almost submerged in ankle-deep snow, half frozen lakes – it was truly a White Christmas!





















We had a marvellous time frolicking in the snow. It was such a new experience for me and my two friends; coming from the eastern and southern parts of India as we were, our only chance of setting foot on snow was a vacation up in the mountains of the north, and that too, for only a small window during winter, and even then a snowy Christmas was not a certainty. So we just went berserk and for close to an hour, we behaved like a trio of happy kids on Christmas morning, who wake up to find the yard covered with snow that had fallen the night before.






After playtime was over, we were freezing and in desperate need of some warmth and food. What better than head to ‘Sundbergs Konditori’ - Stockholm’s oldest confetionary which, apparently, served the best hot chocolate in town, according to my knowledgeable friend who had called this city his home for three years. And boy,was he right! Best Christmas snack ever – hot chocolate served with generous dollops of whipped cream, a blueberry muffin, a strawberry tart and a hazelnut pastry. Three friends, three varied choices, sharing of treats, and we perhaps ended up liking the other’s order just a little bit more than our own!



So there we were, sitting in the pleasing, comforting warmth of softly glowing amber lights reflecting on the stained glass windows; the happy chatter of families rejoicing in Christmas homecomings; while outside snow fell softly and silently on the cobbled streets of Gamla Stan (the ‘Old Town’), as Christmas lights were just beginning to twinkle into life. 
And it was one of those moments for me, when there's a feeling of supreme happiness and an indescribable lightness of being; also a sense of deja vu.  A moment which seems to have stepped out from the pages of a favourite book, or the words of a favourite song, or the scene of a favourite movie, and has gifted me the chance to be a part of it and cherish it. Life at that point seemed wonderful indeed!

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