My father has started his traditional gingerbread house construction project. He does this every year apparently. It sure seems like a lot of work. I think someone should tell him that it is a lot easier to put the candy in the mouth instead of pasting it onto a house. I do not care how charming they say it is, candy only has one place.
Things have been getting a bit crazy lately. People all around seem to be much more in a hurry than usual. What they are stressing out about, I do not know. It seems they just cannot wait to spend money in the stores, buying things that they giftwrap and then carry home.
We went to something called a "fair" where they had all kinds of animals. Well, that is what I was told they were called. One really big animal they had there was called a pony. They even had little girls (always have to look out for them) standing on top of the ponies. Just before we had a coffee break (well, I had something that was quite yummy instead), I found this weird looking thing!
Apparently, it is quite common that people get together and exchange all these giftwrapped items they have been getting for each other all winter (well, it seems that way to a little guy like me). I am told we are going to aunt Mona and that there will be a lot of food there. Yum!
Hooray! Christmas is here! Well, or so I am told. Everybody (well, almost "everybody" in my world anyway) got together at aunt Mona’s house. Mom and dad were of course there, as were my cousin and godfather Tony, his wife and two children. My grandmother and uncle Håkan were also there, although Håkan disappeared right before Santa Claus turned up, and I can still not figure out quite why. This Santa Claus-dude was a little bit too scary for me.
This weird looking guy’s primary function seems to be to scare children and to hand out gifts. I think someone should tell him he could save a lot of money if he cleaned up his act and stopped scaring people. I mean, for the love of Lego, trim that beard! I bet he does not have any hair on his head.
Luckily, for him, he had brought some really nice gifts with him and strangely enough, he knew to bring gifts for everyone.
The atmosphere was very nice, with lots of food, lots of gifts and lots of nice people.
A week after the Christmas gathering, we celebrated something the people around me call "New Year’s Eve". I am not quite sure what they mean by that, since everything this year has been new to me. But it has been fun, and it has been hectic being me.
What’s more, my dad finally got his act together and summarized my millennium year.
We got back from Thailand in one piece. I tell ya, these long-distance flights can be a real blast. You just have to know how to charm some flight attendants, and the people around you; which, in my case, does not require all that much of an effort.
It was nice to get out of the sun, but for some reason my mother and father did not agree with me. My mother said she had to catch up on some sleep after her vacation, which I do not quite understand. I certainly had a fabulous time, and I do not think it is fair of grown-ups to be grouchy just because they cannot find things to do (I mean, as if I need baby-sitting).
The weather is getting a bit colder now, so I find myself staying indoors, working on my vocal capabilities.
When things started to go a bit sour, as far as the weather was concerned, we had the good fortune of going to Thailand with aunt Mona, uncle Håkan, her son Tony (who happens to be my godfather), his "soon" to-be-wife Agneta and their two children Pontus and Jesper. This was Mona’s own present to herself for her 50th birthday; mighty nice of her!
The weather was very very nice, although a bit too hot for someone who had to try very hard to stay out of the sun most of the time. Although I was not allowed to swim in the ocean, my parents took me down to the beach; where we walked in the wet sand, took some pictures, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
My father went for an elephant safari out in the bush somewhere close to a national park. The event lasted an entire day and included travelling by canoe on a river as well as a good meal in the middle of nowhere.
People were so nice! Wherever we went, they wanted to say hello to me. They usually wanted to hold me and run around with me, whenever we went to a restaurant.
It was hard to get away from the hotel employees! This is a picture of me and ‘Tuk’, who usually served us down by the pool; he took all of us on a small sightseeing tour into Phuket town. On our way there, we also stopped by a temple and a small elephant safari where Pontus and Jesper went for an elephant ride.
All in all, the visit to Thailand was very nice; the people, the food (well, I would not really know, but my father claims it was very good 
As summer came to an end, we were moving into another apartment. We moved from Bondegatan on Södermalm to Kristineberg (both apartments are located in Stockholm). The new apartment is much bigger and very nice; all this extra room will give me much more space to hold my cocktail parties, build LEGO "stuff", and not to mention my own room!
Speaking of my room… I have been told I will be getting my own room, but it currently looks like a disaster area. My parents are using it as a storage room for all the boxes and assorted junk (my own stuff excluded of course) that they do not know where to put yet.
We went to visit aunt Mona and uncle Håkan during the summer for a great
During summer, people here in Sweden run around like maniacs trying to catch just the slightest ray on their skin; I find it quite stressful and have taken a more relaxed approach to sun tanning.
My father was given the opportunity to sample a traditional Swedish dish called Surströmming; something he had managed to stay clear of for many years. Aunt Mona would not take ‘No’ for an answer so my mother went to fetch the camera.
