December and the Holidays

Lugano, Switzerland
(in the Italian part, about 15 minutes from Italy)

December went by faster then I would have liked, but it was a good month. I've been skiing a few times in the Alps here, and it was absolutely amazing. I went once with friends, and a couple other times with my host families.

Skiing

Picasso exhibition in Zürich

Castle in Baden.

A traditional Swiss Christmas festival.
Küssnacht am Rigi

My Christmas Tree!
Not as big as back home, but I liked it.

A lot of Swiss families burn real candles on their Christmas Trees.

My Christmas this year was very Swedish. My host mom was born and raised in Sweden, but my host dad is Swiss. They can all speak Swedish fluently, as well as German. My host mom can also speak a few other languages. My host aunt and her son were visiting from Italy(she is also Swedish), and My host mothers cousin from Germany was here too. So in my house there was Italian, Swedish, German, Swiss German, and English being spoken. English because my host cousin only speaks Italian, and Swedish, but a little English. Conversations were always being translated between German, and Swedish, and Italian.
Traditions were a little different here. We opened presents on Christmas Eve, and not Christmas Morning. We had a big dinner on Christmas Eve instead of the usual Christmas morning breakfast of strawberry pancakes with eggs, bacon, and whipped cream, :D That might be the thing that I missed the most throughout all the holidays.

Christmas Eve Dinner.

Christmas morning breakfast. I made pancakes!

A day out with my host family. The day after Christmas.

On the way up to the top of Uetliberg.

Uetliberg is also known as Zürich's mountain.
You can see the whole city from the top.

After coming out from a break in the cafe, it was dark so we got to see the city lights.