However, since I made an effort yesterday and translated the whole story plus John's opening words and added some notes that may be culturally interesting to international readers I'll share it. I was kind of awaiting John's approval to post the translation but now that the cat (as well
) is out of the bag, here's my version:And I also wrote the following to help explain the Swedish Santa traditionHi;
For those of you who can read Swedish, here’s a little christmas story I wrote a week ago. Once I had made it up it took only an hour to write, but I’m really happy about it. It hasn’t been published anywhere else, and I hope you’ll like it. Merry Christmas.
MY CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY
hi my name is Alice and I’m eight years old and now I’ll tell you about my Christmas holiday but mostly I’ll tell you about Christmas eve. My Christmas eve was strange and not so fun because nearly a year ago my dad died and then Rej came instead I don’t know how to spell his name and I don’t care because Rej is mean and I don’t want him to be mum’s boyfriend.
I don’t believe in Santa because last year I understood that it was dad who was santa but that he’d just put on those clothes and a mask and I understood that dad was santa because he was wearing that ring like you have when you’re married and mum has one just like it but she doesn’t anymore because she sold it when Rej was getting something for his car.
But I didn’t tell dad that I knew he was santa because I thought it was fun to sit on his lap and lean onto the pillow he had as his belly and he talked strange like that "hylki pylki" like they do in Finland and I thought that was funny.
When it was Christmas eve this year or last year I mean I told mum that I knew that santa wouldn’t come because I knew it was dad who’d been santa and he was dead and then mum said santa would still come and first I got a little scared because I know dad is in the cemetery all of him because he didn’t want to be burnt up but then I understood that mum meant it was Rej who would be santa and I said I didn’t want Rej to be santa and I didn’t want that because Rej is mean and he pinches me so I get bruises when mum doesn’t see and he says that soon he’ll do things with me that he’ll kill me if I tell anyone so I haven’t told mum even.
I had wished for a Nintendo DS and I knew that mum had bought a Nintendo DS because I had happened to look in the cupboard and I told mum that I should get my Nintendo DS now and that I didn’t want to get it from Rej and then mum got angry and said I wouldn’t get any Nintendo DS at all if I didn’t want it from santa and that santa would be sad if I wasn’t happy when he came.
Then in the evening Rej went out and said he would chop firewood and I knew he only said that because he was going to put on the clothes and the mask but he was very drunk and I hoped he would happen to cut his head off when he was chopping wood but he wasn’t going to chop wood and then mum and I sat in the kitchen and waited and mum asked if I wanted any candy but I didn’t want any candy because I only thought about that Rej would touch me and put me on his lap and I didn’t want that.
It took a really long time until Rej came and the strange thing was that it sounded like he was really chopping wood even though he was just pretending but then it knocked on the door and mum said I should go and open but I didn’t want to so mum went and opened instead and I heard in the hallway that she said silly things about oh it’s santa coming but I knew it was just Rej who also smells bad.
Then santa came into the kitchen and he smelled even more bad than usual and he said nothing probably because he was so drunk and didn’t remember what you’re supposed to say and he nearly fell over and then he put out his hand to me but only one of them because the other one he couldn’t put out because with that he was holding the sack which seemed really heavy and then I didn’t know what to think because his fingers were really thick a bit like sausages but on one finger he had the same ring as dad that one you have when you’re married but mum sold hers and the ring almost disappeared because the fingers were so thick.
Last year I saw that it was dad also because I recognized his eyes although he had a mask so I looked at santa but it was all black where the eyes should be but I wasn’t afraid because I was sure it was dad because he had the same shoes too and then mum started screaming because she also understood that it was dad who was santa and then santa put the sack down on the floor and a lot of stuff ran out that probably was blood and the whole carpet got all red and then santa opened the sack and showed it to mum and then she fainted and then I looked too and even though I had wished for a Nintendo DS it was kind of a good present and now I won’t write anymore because now the lesson is over and also grandma has promised me I’ll have my Nintendo DS later when the police are done in our house.
Alice
Notice to foreign readers from the translator. In Sweden it is common for Santa Claus – Jultomten in Swedish – to appear in person and hand out Christmas presents to children on Christmas Eve. Of course this is someone dressed up as Santa, often the father or some other male relative of the family. And it’s also customary that the person acting as Santa leaves the house with some excuse like going to buy a paper or cigarettes, or mailing a Christmas card or something similar – or to chop firewood…
There’s also the option of asking someone external like a neighbor; I was Santa myself last year for the children of a friend who lives next to my parents’ house. Or you can even hire a Santa from an agency, it’s a short season for them but the demand is huge .
with pride from reading John's kind words of approval of my translation. I did my best to keep the feeling of a child's writing and I'm happy I didn't make you disappointed 
