"It is the dead of the night. The farm lies fast asleep and everyone inside the house is sleeping too."

" The tomten is awake. He lives in a corner of the hayloft and comes out at night when human beings are asleep. He is an old, old tomten who has seen the snow of many hundreds of winters. No one knows when he came to the farm. No one has ever seen him, but they know he is there. Sometimes when they wake up they see the prints of his feet in the snow. But no one has seen the Tomten.... "Winters come and summers go, Year follows year, but as long as people live at the old farm in the forest, every night the Tomten will trip around between the houses on his small silent feet." (The Tomten, by Astrid Lindgren, follows the Tomten visiting the farm animals with comfy illustrations by Harald Wiberg.) I have been adopted in, so-to-speak, to the Swedish culture of my town, the town where my husband was born and raised (mostly) and brought me after we were married. This town first charmed me with its "village" feel. I've come to appreciate the Swedish culture (Lutfisk excluded) and the strong Swedish immigrants who started the town in 1869 and I have a special fondness for the cute tomtes with long white beards who wear red knit hats!