“But I guess it’s time to move into the kitchen and try the mulled wine and everything else that Linn has prepared?”
Stig cleared his throat and grinned towards the group.
“Well, I just have to go and get the paper…ho ho ho!”
“But…What?” Linn exclaimed, surprised. But Stig just snuck out the door and disappeared.
The others looked at each other and the buzzing got louder as they all moved into the kitchen. Birgitta looked nervously at her phone, but then looked relieved, putting it back into her pocket again.
“Is Kurt getting by on his own tonight?” Emelie asked.
“No, I got the home care to come and help, and they were going to call if there were any problems.”
She leaned in closer to Emelie.
“Have you found anything?”
Emelie shook her head, she didn’t have the energy to discuss Birgitta’s building permission right now, it annoyed her and she had other things to think about. It was the only thing Birgitta ever talked about. Stina smiled at Birgitta.
“But how nice for you, you deserve to relax a little.”
Birgitta’s shoulders dropped.
“It doesn’t feel good not to be able to cope on my own, he is my husband and my responsibility. But now they are looking into finding him a place at the nursing home, because I just can’t do it any longer,” she said, wringing her hands.
But then she saw the kitchen table and let out a joyful little shriek.
“But Linn, Emelie, what a beautiful table, and all these amazing smells! You’ve done nothing but bake, have you Linn?”
And she was right. The mulled wine was in the middle of the table and between the plates and the bowls there were lanterns with burning candles. Branches of ivy decorated with amaryllis and red winter apples adorned the table. Linn was handing out small plates and made sure they all tried all the cakes and cookies and the sugar kelp bread. Oskar looked proud as he stood next to her in a matching Christmas sweater and handed out mulled wine cups while Linn instructed them not to taste the drink before everyone had a cup in their hand. The kitchen warmed up and for a while, Emelie forgot everything and even felt a slight hunger. Oskar clinked his teaspoon against his cup and declared in a ceremonious voice:
“All right, everyone, it is time to taste the mulled wine, made according to Astrid’s old recipe.”
He filled everyone’s cups and they all put in raisins and almonds in the drink and Linn raised her cup for a toast.
“One, two, three – cheers!”
Emelie looked around, keeping her fingers crossed that it wouldn’t taste as terrible as it did last time. At least it wasn’t as thick, she concluded and now it seemed perfect. Linn had watched over the mulled wine in the bucket like a hawk during the weeks that had passed since the last tasting. Everyone was still, tasting. Birgitta snorted, Christer hummed in an appreciative way. Andreas smacked his lips and took another sip, but it was Sussi who eventually broke the silence.
“Wow, Linn, it’s delicious!”
“Best mulled wine I’ve ever tasted, but dangerously strong, I think,” Stina added.
“Yep”, Andreas said, “do you know what the alcohol percentage is in this one?”
There was a hard knock on the door, and someone stepped in.
“Ho ho ho, are there any nice children here?”
Linnea let go of her plate and ran out into the hallway and soon came back followed by Santa Claus. He had a slight limp and carried a big lumpy bag on his back. His white beard went all the way down to the belt of his worn, red jacket. With some difficulty, Santa put the bag down on the floor, and Andreas found a chair for him. As he sat down there was a loud cracking noise and the Santa toppled backwards a little, laughing.
“I guess this Santa has eaten a bit too much porridge lately.”
He got up slightly, showing them his behind where the red pants had torn along the whole seam. Liv and Linnea giggled.
“I can fix that, and I can wash and fix up the jacket as well,” Birgitta said, smiling and blushing.
“Ho ho, Birgitta, for your sake this Santa will gladly take off his pants,” Stig chuckled and winked at her.
