A GHASTLY CHRISTMAS

Björn was an old man and when he fell asleep, late on Christmas Eve, it felt exceptionally pleasant.

His last thoughts were about the Christmas dinner, which is on Christmas Eve in Sweden. There was ham and rice pudding, which was so good, and glasses of strong spiced wine which he emptied with such pleasure.

Somewhere, at the other end of the house, his relatives, children and grandchildren were still enjoying themselves, but it didn't matter. He was so self-occupied they didn't disturb him. He just couldn´t understand how they were able to keep going while he felt so terribly tired. Anyway, he didn´t intend to request them to calm down. It was their business if they wanted to stay up and fly around like stupid birds. One fine day they would perhaps realize that sleep was the only thing which could give real pleasure and joy of living.