Update from Christmas last year

In my mind I truly already start to think about Christmas again. I know for some people this might sound crazy. But I love Christmas that much, I could celebrate it more often :) :)

For those of you who think I'm crazy and that we all should think about summer now, the next post tomorrow will be better for you- promoting summer ;)

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

I've been in Stockholm with my husband during Christmas and we've just returned so I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, even though it is almost New Years Eve!

I will unpack my bags and get back to you later with some pictures!

Kram,

Isabell

Some pictures from our kitchen

I can't describe how much I love the scent of hyacinths. For me this is a typical smell of Christmas, together with cinnamon and the scent of the fir needles. The old tin you see in the picture is from my grandma from Sweden and is filled with the Christmas cookies I baked.

I also like Amaryllis very much, I have them every year:

One of my newest Christmas decoration is a heart shaped light chain, which is very cosy too and oboe the oven.

And as every year of course a mistle toe:

Nyblom Kollén

I've been looking for new pillow cases for our bedroom pillows and I found beautiful ones from Nyblom Kollén. My absolute favorite is this one:

Picture Nyblom Kollén

I've already ordered it and I'm looking forward to get it and to prepare our home for Christmas. I'm counting the days… It's only 2 days left until I have one week of vacation. Time for food, time for baking, time for decoration and finally time for my Christmas.

Christmas market Blutenburg castle

I've been at almost every Christmas market in the center of Munich, but this year I found out that there is a Christmas market I haven't even heard of before and which is not so well-known ( which is very good in a big city like Munich). Blutenburg castle is in the Western part of Munich and I will go there this weekend.

Picture: Muenchen.de

Picture: Blutenburg

Have a lovely friday!

Isabell

Lantliv magazine Christmas edition 2014

One of my absolutely favorite magazines is Lantliv and of course their Christmas edition of the magazine. It makes me feel like I was at home in Sweden. But have a look yourself at the pictures below from this magazine and I guess you will understand why I like it so much. I can't help but red green and white is definitely the best mix of colors for Christmas!

Coming home

I had a very long day today with trainings and a lot of talking. Already on my way home I looked forward to coming home and couldn't wait to open the door. I like being at home but especially during Christmas. The lights of the Swedish candle holders are filling the entire room with a warm light and this automatically calms me down, no matter what happened during the day. There is a Swedish proverb : borta bra men hemma bäst (literally: away (is) fine but home (is) best) meaning there is no place like home and I totally agree.

Advent calendar

This morning when I woke up and entered the kitchen I found a little surprise from Tim: an Advent calendar. I took the pictures this morning when it was still dark outside, but I think you can still see the cute details:

Best part definitely Santa Clause :)

Happy first of December!

Isabell

Advent wreath 2014

It is high time to think about this year's advent wreath. I will for sure have the traditional Swedish one with moss, which I will collect together with my family in the forest close to my parent's home at First Advent. This is a tradition since I've been a child. But I also need a second Advent wreath.
These are some inspirations I have for this year.

 A modern style:

picture mad og bolig

 A traditional version

picture fotoagent

 White and green is also very classic and I like it:

Picture: tuinadvies

I'll show you some pictures on sunday.

Kram,
Isabell

Vanillekipferl- Vanilla Christmas cookies

Since I was a child my Mum has baked Christmas cookies. "Vanillekipferl" is my favorite, that is a vanilla/hazelnut dough that are crescent shaped. I've baked these this weekend as these are also Tim's favorite biscuits:

Ingredients

· 260 gr flour

· 1 pinch of backing powder

· 125 gr sugar

· 2 sachets of vanilla sugar

· 3 egg yolks

· 200 gr butter

· 125 gr ground hazelnuts



· Powdered sugar

· 2 sachets of vanilla sugar

Preparation


Mix the butter with the sugar, the flour, the egg yolks and the ground hazelnut, add the backing powder. Work the ingredients until a smooth, homogeneous dough is obtained. Let it rest in a cool place for 1-2 hours.

Form crescent and put them on a backing plate, bake for approx. 5 Minutes at 200°C , let them cool a little but not too much. Mix the powdered sugar and the vanilla sugar and turn them in the sugar mix.

Let them cool down before keeping them into a cookie jar.

Christmas magazines

Since a couple of weeks I have already been in a Christmas mood. ( Mostly this feeling already starts end of August while others are still enjoying the last sunshine of summer, I simply LOVE Christmas) The first sign of Christmas for me is when the home decoration magazines start to sell their Christmas edition. I can spend hours scrolling though these and getting inspiration how to decorate. I often read them on a sunday afternoon with a cup of coffee and just some time for me. I like the magazine Living at home for example:

picture: living at home

picture: living at home

picture: living at home

picture: living at home

Sweets for Advent calendar

Today I've already bought the first sweets for the advent calendar. I felt like a child again when buying these because I often stood in front of this little chocolate store with it's colorful papers and decoration in the window when I was a child. It has the biggest selection of chocolates and you can get 1 of each which is perfect for the calendar:

Picture: Merkur Online

Rice pudding ready to give-away

Each year I'm inviting my family to a pre Christmas dinner, mostly around the 6th of december. And every year I've had a small present for them standing close to the place card. This year it will be something different to chocolate or gingerbread. I found this rice pudding from a company called Michelsen and I decided that it's going this year's present the moment I saw it:

Picture: michelsen-versand.de

Kram,

Isabell

Old tins

This tin is very old and once certainly contained gingerbreads before I found it on a fleamarket in Munich. It is my harbinger for Christmas as I also use it for gingerbreads and I start to eat them before Christmas :). As soon as I open a package of gingerbreads this is the best way to store it. I especially like the city of Nuremberg on it and the horseman on the top:

Isabell

Pre Christmas shopping Ikea

Every year before Christmas I go to Ikea to get some inspiration. I like the small rooms they are decorating with Christmas trees and ornaments. This year I was a little bit disappointed, they do have traditional colors that I like but I only found one thing which I liked. It ended up in the big yellow bag that you are carrying around while running around in circles. Even if you only put there one single item. :) This is the only thing I bought:

Picture: Ikea

Kram, Isabell

Time to start the countdown for advent and Christmas

You all know that I really love Christmas. And this year I can not wait to finally get all the Christmas decoration down from the attic. It is the most important time of the year for me, the best month of all. Christmas for me is tradition, coziness and spending time with my family. There are only 2 weeks left until I can finally start… so I start the countdown to advent with a video from Nigella Lawson, to put all of us in a real Christmas mood:

Have a lovely sunday evening!

Kram Isabell

Natural Christmas decoration

You don't always need to buy new decoration. When I'm out for a walk I try to collect things from nature and use them for decoration because simple things are often the most beautiful things. You know I love Christmas and I also love to have a mix of new things and old things. This is a good example how to create new things yourself and protect the environment:

picture: skonahem

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!

With this very old Christmas card I'm wishing you and your family a MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!

Kram,

Isabell

Little Christmas Eve - Lilla julafton

Today on the 23rd of December is the day where everything needs to be prepared for Christmas. We've  decorated the Christmas tree, and in 30 Minutes I'll take the train to my parents to help them with the preparation of the food. I'm currently drinking coffee and eating some Lussekatter and enjoying my decorated apartment. Everything is ready for Christmas.

Do you remember my post about the ornament, which we got on our wedding for the Christmas tree? Tim and I have put them in the tree, our first Christmas as a married couple.

In Southern Sweden the 23rd is even called Lilla julafton ( Little Christmas Eve) because we decorate the tree and have a little celebration before Christmas and eat the crispy and warm Christmas Ham.

Have a nice 23rd december!

Isabell

Christmas Tree 2013

Sorry that I haven't blogged for a while but I really needed a few days off from everything as my old company really let me work until the very last minute and even longer. I was so tired the last days and I felt that I needed time for myself, just reading a book and even time for such a simple thing like cleaning the apartment for Christmas. Because we have chosen our Christmas tree for 2013! :) I don't know why but as soon as the tree arrives, Christmas arrives too, don't you also think so? Tim and I have chosen a quite big one this year and I just wanted to show you a quick picture which I took with my mobil to show you:

I've also put the golden snowflakes on the window:

And the special guest for every Christmas and Tim's favorite ( even though he's not a Christmas fan like I am), the little Tomte from 1912 from Sweden:

So I'm fully into decoration at the moment and I'll show you as soon as it is ready!

Kram,

Isabell