Summer solstice, three days before Christmas Eve?
Yeah, this will take some time to get used to.

Midsummer, the summer solstice, is one of the absolute biggest celebrations in Sweden. Not that we were party people back home, but I have definitely been to my fair share of typical Swedish Midsummer celebrations with pickled herring, dill potatoes, sour cream and lots of strawberries and cream with dancing around the flowery-dressed midsummer pole. This day is to celebrate the longest day of the year in a part of the world which is so deprived of sunlight during such a long period of the year.

This day takes place at the end of June, as far away from Christmas celebrations you can be. It’s just about being outside and enjoying the Swedish summer and sunset at 10:30 pm.

Having the longest day of the year in the middle of summer makes sense. So far so good. But having the longest day of the year in December, three days before Christmas Eve was strange. 14 hours of sun from 4:47 am to 6:42 pm. Since we are on the east coast, we decided to watch the earliest sunrise all throughout the year on this day and had alarms set for 3:30 to make it to the beach in time to see the beautiful colors that start showing on the sky way before the sun actually rises above the horizon.

It was a beautiful sunrise which looked golden when the waves rolled back out from the beach. But the sky wasn’t as pink as I’ve seen previously. I guess we have to be up and about to watch more sunrises down the road.