Sweden {Christmas Eve}

We woke up on Christmas Eve to a beautiful and sunny {although quite cold} day.  Christmas Eve is the day most of Sweden really celebrates the holiday so I was ready for a day of new traditions.  We bundled up to go for a nice sunny walk around the neighborhood, stopping to take pics of all of the frost and low sunshine.  Back at home we helped with the final preparations for the Christmas Eve feast, then ate it all quickly to get ready for the 3pm showing {across the country} of the Donald Duck {Kalle Anka} Christmas special, a collection of scenes from a bunch of Disney movies {of course the Cinderella scene was my favorite} that the entire country stops what they are doing to watch.  I ended the day FaceTiming with my favorite little guys back home then enjoyed some glögg and wine while playing old games Christian found in his closet before calling it a night!

homemade pickled herring

plate #1

plate #2

jack was so excited to show me the rudolph that santa brought him

late night snack of shrimp salad and chips

xoxo,

stephanie marie

The Weekend {In Pictures}

{greek salads}

{a trip to the fish market}

{a 6 mile walk fueled by beer & tacos}

{a gorgeous blue sky weekend}

{salmon dinner}

{picking up treats for my "workers"}

{pancakes}

{feeding vivian}

{i have the absolute best family}

{back patio lookin' sharp}

{the smallest thank you for a lot of yard work}

xoxo,

stephanie marie

Sweden {Glöggfest & Värnamo}

Thursday morning we woke up to no more snow {crazy how quickly it all went away!} and grey skies.  After a slow morning at home we got ready and headed out to the lake for a "glöggfest" with Christian's aunt, uncle, and cousins at their beautiful home.  Basically, we sat around eating appetizers and drinking Pia's homemade glögg which was absolutely delicious, then switched over to wine and chocolates while we caught up for hours with this welcoming family.  The next day we had a bit more shopping to do for the Christmas holiday so the 4 of us packed into the car and headed out to Värnamo, a town not too far away along the river where we walked around checking out Christmas shops and trying to find the delicious wine we had the night before at the systembolaget.  Christian was so excited to find a cheese pie at the store {basically, a very cheesy quiche} that we heated it up for dinner that night, then proceeded to prep some food for Christmas Eve dinner the next day while I enjoyed a yummy pastry from the grocery store.

remember this dock from last time?

breakfast

xoxo,

stephanie marie