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OK, as you already know, my little meerkitten brother came visiting for the holidays. And as you already heard (or read, if your read attentively) he had the most awesome present for hubby and me.

t was so incredibly awesome on so many levels that I spontaneously broke into tears when I unwrapped and saw the gift. Even my dirty-harry-hardfaced hubbylove teared up a bit (but don’t tell him I told you). And despite being still a little sick and exhausted from Christmas joy, I was too hyper to sleep until 5 AM because I was working on realizing the awesomeness of our present and the incredible generosity and kindness behind it.

I have wanted a “real” camera forever and ever. I more and more felt that my crappy point-and-shoot was not up to what I wanted to do, and I really wished for a DSLR.

Before we bought the house, my and hubby’s plans regarding this were more or less like “OK, if we save money, in one or two years, we’ll buy one”.

But then along came the house. As some of you might have followed a year ago, we were in a really stressful situation at home and had to move out. We jumped into the adventure of buying a house rather quickly, and all our monies went into it, and will go into the mortgage for, well… centuries.

So the plans of getting a DSLR went down the drain. Apart from the mortgage, this is an old house that needs repairs. Sudden surprises like mold in unexpected places eat up resources like nothing else, believe me.

Do you know when you wish for something really badly, but you know it’s just not possible, not ever will be possible? You push it so far away that it is almost nonexistant anymore.

But still, being a true friend, and doing quite our share of photography talk amongst us, the meerkitten knew all of this.

So Christmas Eve. The candles on the tree are burning, we have sung sufficiently many Christmas carols, read the Christmas Story, and now it’s time to unwrap the presents. We all are quite happy with everything: Books, some games, some trinkets, some more books. Then, my son brings to me a cute, unobtrusive box…

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Each year, the photographers of Worth share their “12 Hours of Christmas”. Each of them chooses one of the Christmas days and posts an assembly of pictures: One for each hour, 12 hours altogether.

This year, we had my little meerkitten brother over from Stockholm for the holidays. So that made, together with my husband and me, three Worthians! Of course, we had to do the challenge.

Here is the thumbnail. To view all pictures, click “more”:

12 Pictures of Christmas

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Some newer music for a change.

Anna Ternheim is a Swedish singer and songwriter whom I absolutely adore.

Do you know the feeling of being frozen inside, so lost that even tears elude you? Listening to Anna Ternheim’s music is one of the few things that can crack the wall then, and make me cry. And thus, she saved my life more than once already.

Also, Anna somehow evolved to be the music that connects me most with my little meerkitten brother who lives so far away, and whom I miss so often. Music plays a large role in our relationship, so I have many singers, bands and songs that mean something between us… The Fleet Foxes, Joni Mitchel, Martha Wainwright, Regina Spektor, Teitur, The Guillemots… these are just a few that come to mind spontaneously. But Anna Ternheim was the first music that really connected us, that we listened to together, crossing the distances.

Anna made two albums so far which are both wonderul, “Somebody Outside” and “Separation Road”. Again, it’s very hard to choose. I love almost every song from every album. But, as I have to:

Shoreline

And, for my meerkitten brother:

My Secret. This song was the soundtracks to the nights we spent talking.

TWO of them! Meerkittens are not meant to be alone.

Meerkitten

Do I have to add that I shot this one for my fabulous li’ll meerkitten brother Adrian?

No, I don’t.

Word: sparking
Form: double acrostic

Kiew Dusk

subconscious fears
passing beyond grasp
another vodka
restless flutter
kalashnikov bark
ignites Bar Berzelii
nowhere to run
glass shattering

—

That was harder than I thought.
Thanks to nikneven for the idea, and to my fabulous jeenias little meerkitten brother for helping with the letters. I owe you a drink in Bar Berzelii for this.

Tomorrow’s word: metropolitan