Today, I read the morning paper online. There were primarily two things that struck me.

One: one man wrote in his column about the ’hug greeting’. It will have to go, so like my daughter does to all kinds of things, he says bye, bye to the hug. Great. I’ve never liked being hugged by all and sundry. Cute guys, sure, my adorable kids, of course, but that’s about it, really.

I feel the same way about the handshake. I know we’re meant to shake hands to show that we trust the other person. Way back, people had to lay down their hand weapons to shake hands so obviously you needed to be able to trust whoever you greeted like that. We even have an architectural detail in our churches called ’the weapon house’ - the hallway, entrance hall etc. Where, apparently, our ancestors had to lay down their weapons to enter the church. It shows how much our society was dependent on weaponry for defense. The extreme right have made a big deal out of the handshake as a ’Swedish’/Aryan thing. Muslims don’t want to shake women’s hands, apparently. So naturally, the authorities need to force these foreigners to shake hands like ’real people’. ;) Note the irony here. I do not feel that way. There’s quite a bit of resistance to burkas and things like that too. There’s an old Swedish saying about needing to know your ’Pappenheimers’, meaning know your friends/allies. If someone’s wearing a burka, you know she’s religious. I think it’s far better to know what people are about, than have them forcibly hidden behind a behavior that isn’t natural to them. Same with handshakes. Besides, they’re unhygienic, even when there’s no Corona virus, no flu, nothing in particular.

The other day, I ran into a slightly eccentric man. My sister’s met him too. He asks where you’re from to get you to start to talking to him. He inevitably leads the conversation to football, because that’s his passion. So we talked a while. He asked about my son’s name and took his hand. A few seconds later my son was sucking his fingers. I consoled myself with the fact that there’s basically no corona virus here. It’s an extremely safe place and I really doubt this man had travelled lately. So I guess my son will be ok. But it was disgusting. I wish I’d had some disinfectant with me.

I’m rooting for the Bhuddist greeting. Pressing your hands together and bending your neck. I’ve seen some humorous suggestions about shoving each other with the elbows (mostly suitable for young men, I think) and a sort of ’foot shake’ that looked funny, but any kind of physical contact brings you too close to the other person. So, the Bhuddist thing. Respectful and hygienic.

Another thing I read about is the fact that Sweden hasn’t shut down our schools (except for the high schools). It was a conscious decision that other countries never tire of criticizing Sweden for. And by the way, I get furious when our neighbors criticize us. It gets really personal for me, despite the fact that we moved away from our home country because of the change it has undergone. Sure, Sweden may be wrong, or other countries may be. I’m sure it’s far too soon to tell. Even if it was a mistake, people make mistakes. It’s hard to know what to do when something completely new hits you. Only very few people with experience of the Spanish flu are still around. None from decision making circles. Who could have known what would be best to do? All we have is the advice of the experts.

Anyway, now people are saying that closing down schools and teaching kids online has cost millions. Ok, maybe so, but if that’s true, I say they weren’t doing it right. Sitting at home would have helped me enormously and I’m sure my kids, particularly my son, would benefit from it too. Lower rents and fewer people employed would also save money. I realize that some people are hyper social and thrive on the company. I didn’t and I know my son won’t. He basically doesn’t care much for other kids. Except for cute blonde girls, but that’s another story (did I tell you about his ’date’?). If you can save yourself from the risk of infection, surely it’s better to stay at home than venture outside where people might be infectious?

I’m beginning to prepare for a life without social contacts, maybe for the foreseeable future. As long as we can manage to finish our loooong move. Get all our stuff collected and above all, a good piece of land. I very much doubt there’ll be travel or outings or actual shopping in our future. Whatever money we have we’ll spend on our home. Now I guess I’ll never meet ’Mr Right’. :/

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I follow this artist from tumblr and I love her art. It's adorable and heartwarming and always makes me smile. This book was a quick, easy and uplifting read. The illustrations are colorful and cuddly. There isn’t necessarily a connecting thread in the pages and some messages came across as redundant and repetitive but it didn’t bother me too much. This is definitely a book that requires you to have it as a physical copy so you can open it on a random page when you’re feeling under the weather and get a burst of positivity and cuteness.

How Do You Hug A Porcupine? is one of my absolute favorite books! I would read this to lower grades (K-2) and for each animal I would ask how they think they would hug that specific animal. I would then read the book and compare the answers from the students to the actual text. Next, we would go over how everyone deserves love and you should never judge a book by its cover. I would remind them how our classroom is filled with hugs and love and not discrimination. 

Hugs & Kisses in a Bottle: The Best Chri... This short story is about Alexa. She isn’t looking forward to the holidays because her parents have recently separated and she and her brother will be spending part of it with only one of them at a time. She is also worried about her parent’s finances and their ability to help her get gifts for her family as they have done in the past. After talking with her mom about her worries, she stumbles on a craft idea idea that shows true Christmas spirit.

This is a cute way to deal with a real issue for so many families facing separation or hardship during the holidays. The author mentions divorce specifically, however in her forward points out that her inspiration was actually an overnight business trip. In my own family, my husband is an long haul truck driver and this craft would have been terrific for those holidays spent apart from him. When my son was young I was always looking for little crafts to make Daddy’s truck more Christmassy and would convey that we were with him during the holidays despite the thousands of miles between us. Also, it goes without saying that this would be great for families with a member on military deployment. This is a fabulous way to show that Christmas giving comes from the heart and not the wallet.

This is a terrific holiday story for kids ages 5-12 and a great resource for kids facing separation from family members during the holidays, facing financial hardship or just in want of fun recycled Christmas craft.