Tis the Season

Every year our family either travels to Southern Sweden or the United States to celebrate Christmas with our family. So far, we have never celebrated a Christmas in our own home. The problem is lack of space. We have a large family here in Sweden and our sweet little city apartment is not suitable. Still, it would feel weird and almost isolationist to stay in Stockholm away from the family just to spend Christmas alone...plus, the child would be missing out on tons of presents which would have to be shipped to Stockholm and that is crazy. So basically, we travel around Sweden collecting all the presents for Mable and transport them back to Stockholm for her.

Butterfly Ornament purchased from Indiska 2010..I have a thing for butterflies!

Although we do leave I started to buy "special ornaments" like two per year because I still keep the tradition of putting up my Christmas tree immediately after Thanksgiving. In Sweden, people decorate the tree as late as Christmas Eve....The American tradition prevailed over that one...so we do have a few weeks of the holidays in the apartment although we are not here on Christmas Eve.

I kinda like owls in the tree..I have two of them but this one is my favorite. Purchased them from Ahlens in 2010. 

This year I wanted to share some of my favorite ornaments with you. We don't go crazy with holiday decorations. In fact, we are kinda low-key. I love the lights from the tree and the decorations that I have purchased over the years- mixed with ornaments that Mable has made in daycare.

We have a Mr. and Mrs. Claus set with real wool for hair, a little sheep that was sent to me in a care package from my dear friends in Miami, a Mariachi guitar player that I call my "Mexican Santa"- that was a gift from one of my best friends who was married in Mexico. I have a Nutcracker that my Granny gave me last year- because I had decided to collect Nutcrackers like five years ago but for some reason was not able to find one..the Nutcracker is on display year-round and so is the Snow globe "Douglas- The Berlin Bear" that I got from my sister from during the time she lived in Berlin and came to visit us here in Stockholm around New Year. My newest ornaments are also quite special,  one is a Chinese-thingy that we bought when we visited The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, here in Stockholm with Daniel's sister who recently passed away. The other is Pinocchio who I bought on our last day in Italy this summer, where we spent 4 wonderful days on Lake Garda with my oldest and dearest friends.

My family bought this ornament for Daniel when we lived in the States. He really likes it..its kinda cute!

I suppose that when I am old and retired I will have amassed enough ornaments to fill up our house. Hopefully, I will remember where and when I got each ornament and be able to remember/tell a funny story or remember a special person- the good times!

This ornament is one of my favorites. I got this one from William Sonoma when I worked there as a store manager. At that time I was totally obsessed with cooking and totally into the snowman chef ornaments.

So, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday this year...for many of us 2012 has been a "pain in the ass" but there is always the good to hold on to and that is what we need to do...hold on tight until our knuckles turn white, eat good food, give love and stay committed!

Here is Pinocchio that I bought from this amazing toy store in Sirmione on the last day of our trip to Italy.

Merry  Christmas and Happy New Year From Sweden!

Hugs,
KyanainSweden