Hm. I think my interest in Sweden mainly comes from my mother having spent a year there as an exchange student while she was in high school. She used to pick up a little extra money when I was in elementary school by tutoring people in Swedish. I remember sitting in the living room while she had people translating fairy tales out loud.

Her host family sent us a few small gifts-- Mostly I remember tomten (sp?) Christmas ornaments, one blue and one brown (this was before my brother arrived, so it was one for me and one for my sister). I have no idea what happened to them. I'm not sure if my mother still has them. I hope so because I'd like to think that I'll get one of them some day, but I worry because I think she and my step-father got rid of all of their Christmas stuff in one of their moves without letting any of us kids have any of it.