A Swedish First Day of Advent

I went to church this morning and I had intended to take a picture of our Advent candle wreath - the first candle was lit today. But I forgot all about it!

However, at home I have a new individual Advent candle to light today, given to me by a dear friend as an early Christmas present. She knows I love all things Swedish and on the candle is a sweet little Swedish Santa. I also bought a new Nordic Santa a few days ago - to join the many I already have! They seem to just JUMP into my basket when I’m shopping! I decided today was the day to open up the large tin of Swedish pepparkakor (spice cookies) that I’ve been saving. Along with the poinsettia, it seemed an appropriate arrangement for my blip today - the first day of Advent!

In other news - I was unexpectedly invited to someone’s house for lunch after church and all the guests enjoyed a delicious lasagna and pleasant company. A bit of Christmas shopping happened on the way home. And once home I spent a couple of hours unpacking the boxes of books that now need to be returned to my bookcases after the new floor was put down in my conservatory. Not only do I need to get that project finished, but the boxes are piled up where my Christmas tree goes, so I need to clear them out before I can truly get ready for Christmas!

I rewarded myself by spending the rest of the evening watching today’s Cross Country ski races on catch-up TV, with my feet up in front of the fire. My favourite skiers didn’t get on the podium, but they still did very well in today’s races. A perfect day if I may say so!