Glad Second Advent!

From my house to yours wishing you all a Happy Second Advent!  There are four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve, and the Swedes celebrate them by lighting a candle for each of the four.  It's just another way of saying "holy **** it's only two weeks left until Christmas!"  We got the tree today but the rest of it -- decorating the house, the tree, the kids, & the cats will have to wait.  Just a moment to breath and enjoy the pinescented room with candles lit for now will do.  Enjoy!

Second of Advent; enjoy the continued season of light!http://tinyurl.com/2d8a3al (Most creative "candle lighting" from Karesuando in Sweden's absolute north, near the border to Finland.)

Happy Thanksgiving (late) and St. Lucia (early)

In the States we celebrate Turkey Day with lots of food, fun and family.  I was lucky to have been surrounded at our house with these wonderful things and I enjoyed every moment although I was a little scared that the turkey wouldn't come out right.  Well no need to fear, thanks to my mother in law's recipe* and sister's husband's help we enjoyed a beautiful and moist 25 pounder on Thanksgiving Day.  Then today after all that good food we waddled out of the house in the snow to do our part in the St. Lucia celebration that the VASA lodge puts on.

What mother's heart wouldn't melt to see her little sweeties singing angelically in this procession?  I know mine did, the kids did great and I am just so proud that they handled it like they did.  It's a beautiful tradition and I certainly don't mind having played a part in doing it two weeks early.  This way Mormor, and my sister and family could see it as well.  Normally though St. Lucia is held on December 13th, more here.

* The trick is to cover the turkey with a well oiled brown paper bag.  It smokes, but it speeds up te cooking and makes for a nice juicy bird.  I put it in at 325 degrees F.

Syren berså - lilac enclosure

Lovely lilacs

Mer Jul (More Christmas)

Ready for Christmas?  I am already, in Sweden the Christmas markets are starting to put out the glögg (mulled wine) and goodies, people are enjoying Christmas store displays and the Lucia is being picked for the school pageant.  Of course here we have Thanksgiving to enjoy before the craziness commences but I for one am pysched for "jul kalendar" (the annual Christmas show on tv that shows one episode a day in December), cookies, candles and "jul mys".  More on XMAS Markets here.

My friend just got me the cutest tray and napkins from IKEA with "Tomte" (the Swedish Santa) on them and it got me thinking. Luckily for me there will be lots of relatives here for Thanksgiving, some Swedes to boot, and we can start filling up on glögg and pepperkakor (Swedish gingerbread). I'm leaving you with a lovely glögg recipe here, and a song that I think you will enjoy about Christimas by Adolphson & Falk whether you understand the lyrics or not.  Called "Mer Jul" it means "More Christmas" and is more than a little tongue in cheek.  ;-)  Let me know if you like it.

Day of the Döda (Dead)

Hello, yesterday was Veterans's Day in the States, a day when we honor those in the military who serve our country and it got me started on thinking about my family and how although we don't have a lot of fighters in the family tree, we do have a lot of love.  I miss my grandparents tremendously so I decided to honor them in my own little "Day of the Dead", a week late and a dollar short perhaps, but I had the day off and I wanted my children to think of them and know more about them.

If you have seen the wild and wonderful new film "The Book of Life" produced by Guillermo del Toro, then you know about the wonderful Mexican tradition during the week around Halloween that honors ancestors whom have passed away . It's a time to celebrate their lives, and invite the dead back into our lives with food, candles, flowers and by visiting their graves.

from Soft Sea Travel

Marigolds abound this time of year in Mexico and actually still flourish in my garden, so I used them for my mini altar.  I put out photos, and a wonderful book that my aunt made to memoralize my American grandparents (thanks Aunt Joanne), as well as some clementines, a candle and flowers.  If I had them I would have put out a plate of Marianne candy which makes me think of my Swedish grandmother who loved them and used to suck on them while knitting, and some bourbon which my American grandfather enjoyed.  (But only in moderation, and never any earlier than the stroke of 5PM.)  I loved all my grandparents, two from Sweden, two from America and never considered asking them for anything although they gave me so much.  Missing them.

Avicii and Happy Father's Day Swedes!

Avicii is now on our Swedish stamps.
All over 30 be like: "Who's Avicii?"
All under 30 be like: "What's a stamp?"

(Copyright by Tore H. G. Kullgren)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL SWEDISH DADS!

Grattis på farsdag till alla underbara svenska pappor!

p.s. Avicii is a famous Swedish DJ.  He co-wrote and co-produced "A Sky Full of Stars" with Coldplay's Chris Martin among many other achievements

Sleep tight

Hello bedroom.... wow, a place for a queen.  There might be room for my king here too.  ;-)

This bedroom stolen from "Sköna Hem", a Swedish interior design magazine, is so romantic it's awesome, but unfortunately hubby doesn't have quite the same taste. For example he would nix the bed ruffle in one swoop and he hates chandeliers.  I guess having a man is worth some compromising, ;-) so here's where we landed - with the åkerkulla panels from IKEA and the kvartal system that I described in this post: back-to-ikea.

There are some elements in this picture that I think we could incorporate though into our space that maybe HH would agree such as the wooden ceiling (love that) and the soft palette throughout.  It's so restful isn't it?  But the pillows he would toss, I have dozens in the closet for that reason!  BTW, how do you handle husbands who get in the way of your decorating?

Here is a link to more French inspired bedrooms: http://www.skonahem.com/inspiration/sovrum/17-franska-sovrum-som-ar-omojliga-att-motsta  Good night, sleep tight!