Christmas Eve In Söderköping

We're back home after a wonderful Christmas at The Segerstens. We did all the traditional stuff: rice porridge for breakfast, a walk around Söderköping complete with some last-minute grocery shopping and a chat with the local ducks...

 …there were family portraits taken that will never hang on the wall after an outstanding Julbord courtesy of Mama Swede...

...Santa came and terrified/enthralled we four youngest, and many, many presents were opened and tested. I called my mom later that night and even got a rare and much appreciated Skype call from my brother on Christmas day, plus messages from my dad and sister. It was a great Christmas, full of fun, free of stress and I am so thankful for my Swedish family for this holiday and for the rest of my family for the ways you showed your love from far away.

Merry Christmas From Us!

Daily Jamie

December 22nd

December 23rd

Christmas Eve Eve

We arrived in Söderköping yesterday and got started with the fun and coziness straight away. The kids decorated the tree and lay out all the presents, Sarianne and I did some last minute shopping, and we ate pizza and played games. Jamie also indulged in a heck of a lot of chocolate resulting in a tearful eleven o'clock bedtime. Today we slept in, ate lunch at the local hamburger joint, tested our patience with the kids at the dollar store, took naps, rolled meatballs, ate Mama Swede's awesome annual turkey, and now we're getting ready to play some more games. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and will be even more fun-filled. So far it's been a great Christmas vacation.

Daily Jamie

December 20th

December 21st

Coifed For Christmas

We went to the mall first thing this morning to get Jamie's hair cut before our trip to Söderköping tomorrow. I think it may have been the first time Jamie had been to a mall since he's been big enough to walk, so being stroller-free was pretty exciting. He was like Buddy the Elf except MORE enthusiastic. When we ushered him into the car-shaped barber chair, however, things took a turn for the dramatic. He was very, very sad to sit there, guys. The barber worked incredibly fast, though, and we were outta there with a new style and a dab of cool-dude gel within five minutes, free to explore the mall even further.  

Daily Jamie

Argggggh, it's so much working opening these Advent presents every day!

Old School

 

My criteria for whether or not I should post music on the blog is very specific. First, can I imagine my mom playing it over and over again for the next several weeks while dancing around the house and second, would my grandma not be totally turned off by it. (I knew Grandma Joyce had great taste when she fell as hard for MmmBop as I did back in '97, but she is still of another generation. Obviously, or her name wouldn't be Grandma.) I've had some success with this method and I LOVE getting an email from Mom thanking me for introducing her to a great tune or from Grandma letting me know that it made her smile. This one I'm not quite sure about. I've been loving the song for a couple of months but only got around to watching the video, which I happen to really like, today. I have no idea how these two feel about hiphop, the genre that makes ME smile the most, but this is so near pop on the hiphop spectrum that I'm giving it a shot. And I hope the rest of you like it, too!



Daily Jamie

December 16th

December 17th

December 18th

It's Beginning To Smell A Lot Like Christmas

I picked up our Christmas package from Mom and Ray today and was so excited that I ripped it open in the parking lot of the post office. They usually pack some candy so I was on a mission to find something tasty. I did - meringues!!! - but my present had also managed to break free from its wrapping paper (I SWEAR THIS IS THE TRUTH) and so I felt obliged to take it out of the package and start using it right away. It's my favorite lotion to use around Christmastime so I was very happy that the USPS manhandled the shipment enough to shake it free for me in advance of the actual holiday. I smelled like a cupcake (and let's be honest, probably meringues) all day long.   

Whoops

I fell asleep for three hours just now while putting Jamie to bed. My biological clock woke me, however, with two messages: first) don't even THINK about going to sleep for the night without washing your face, and second) you'd probably ought to write something on that blog of yours. So dedicated is my subconscious to my beauty routine and my loving readers. Now, freshly-scrubbed and with a cop-out of a post published, I will go finish what I started.

Daily Jamie

December 13th

December 14th

December 15th

The Weekend Spirit

What a quiet, lovely weekend we just had! It started with an early morning workout for The Swede, during which I baked scones for the first time ever, with much success, if I do say so myself. I was inspired by Erin, who bakes them every Saturday morning and I'm so glad I decided to copy her because I mess up baking less often than cooking and that is good for my self esteem.

When The Swede got home we hopped into the car then parked far away from the AIK team shop so that we were forced to take a long, cozy walk next to the lake in our old neighborhood to get to AIK's family day.  Jamie picked out a couple of t-shirts all by himself, which made The Swede very proud, then we flirted with the cuddly mascot until we actually got close to him and then one of us got super duper shy and clingy. The picture says it all. Later we wrapped Christmas presents and all crammed into our bed for the night at eight thirty. Bliss, in other words.

Then today Linda brought her girls over to do crafts and drink glögg and eat gingerbread cookies with blue cheese (it sounds crazy, Americans, I know, but trust me on this one). It was so fun to have them over and for Jamie to have friends to jump on the furniture with. We even managed to make some great-looking smällkarameller and paper wreaths. It's been so nice just to be at home and not have anywhere else to be and it's really making me look forward to this year's long Christmas break. Just one more week of work and we're off until January!

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Panty Raid

Victoria's Secret is super popular over here. It doesn't exist here, except for a small shop in the international terminal at the airport, but it is a sought-out destination for the Swedish ladies traveling abroad. In fact, I've even seen chicks bearing Victoria's Secret bags as their carry-on on flights from Chicago or New York back to Stockholm. And while VS is by no means cheap by my old American standards, by Swedish standards their products are not only exotic, but reasonably priced. All of this explains why the panties-and-perfumed-lotion sales event I went to last Friday with Mama Swede and Gunilla at the local beauty salon was so heavily attended. A lady with an American husband had apparently brought back what I estimate as a ten-thousand-dollar investment in Victoria's Secret products for resale over here (at about a 150% markup, naturally) and it was a hit. The small shop was a cloud of perfume and Swedish babes sipping champagne. But who was the expert, I ask you? This dork, who had tested-driven it all on American soil and found it worthy of my Friday night and my Swedish kronor. 

Daily Jamie

Missing The UPS Truck

In this country when you get a package in the mail that is even slightly larger than a smaller-than-the-customary-American-mailbox Swedish mailbox, you get a slip of paper or a text message telling you to go pick it up at the nearest post station, most often located in a grocery store. This time of year that system is a real pain in the rear. I took this picture when there were five people behind me, all of whom I felt terribly sorry for as I had three packages to pick up. 

Daily Jamie

He'd been awake for five minutes and still refused to move. Apparently I already have a teenager.

High Wire

The Christmas cards started rolling in last week (including a big stack of our own, which I was pleased to slip into the outgoing mail today) and with them a need to display their beauty. In years past I've just taped them up on the wall and then watched, frustrated, as they all fell, one after the other, on a daily basis. So this year I chose a more resilient method and wove some cute candy-cane-striped package string through the newel posts (thank you Young House Love for teaching me that term) and clipped even cuter miniature clothespins on to attach the cards with. Add a few ornaments as placeholders and voila! And look! I just now noticed that the string matches our Christmas card! That might just be the cutest part of all.

Daily Jamie

December 7th

December 8th

Daily Jamie

Improving On Perfection

 

Is there anything better than a hot dog, really? Why yes, friends, there is and it's called a French hot dog and you can get it for cheap at Ikea. See, it's a hollowed out baguette that you squeeze ketchup and mustard into, then insert the dog and HOLY COW! So dang good. I had an errand to run at Ikea for work today and since it was near lunchtime I treated myself to this bad boy and it was the best lunch I've had in awhile. Well, since Tuesday's leftover green bean casserole anyway.

Daily Jamie

Picture Perfect

When the Johanssons were here on Sunday, Erin was kind enough to get behind the camera for a few minutes and try to snap a family picture for our Christmas card. She was awesome, clicking away, trying to get Jamie's attention, but this is the best shot we got, even with the ice cream bribe. We ended up taking a selfie after they left (thank goodness for the front-facing cell phone cam) and Jamie was so into watching himself getting his picture taken on the screen that it came out pretty nicely. I do, however, think the picture above is much more representative of our life right now as toddler wranglers. So thank you, Erin, for capturing the real us. 

Daily Jamie

4 Rolls x 18 Kids = A Whole Lotta Potty Time

Jamie came home with the cutest little craft last Friday, just in time for the beginning of Advent this past Sunday. In case you're not familiar with the traditions of Advent, one candle is lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas and this adorable cluster of candlesticks has orange and yellow tissue paper "flames" stuffed inside to be drawn up each Sunday. The cutest, right? Apparently Jambo had a blast making it and I think his artistic skills are really coming along, though he has torn the paper out and ripped it all apart several times since we brought it home. Baby steps, I guess. 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Friendsgiving 2013

Yesterday we hosted the Johansson family for Thanksgiving dinner and it. was. awesome. It was dark and windy outside and warm, cozy, and full of lit candles and laughter inside.

I had prepared a toilet paper roll turkey craft for the boys to do while Erin and I fixed the grub, but the only boy interested was Svante.

We had Grandma Joyce's never-fail sweet potatoes, which were a favorite as usual, along with two small turkey breasts, gravy, cranberry sauce, walnut bread, and this green bean casserole recipe that I cannot recommend enough. Erin made Yorkshire puddings and it was our first time tasting them and we were very impressed. I think Jamie ate about five. We finished things off with this pumpkin cheesecake, another recipe I'd recommend. And I don't ever brag about my cooking because there is nothing to brag about, but I have to say that I didn't mess anything up to majorly and it was all really good. Svante said it may have been the best meal he's ever eaten. I always liked that Svante.

Best of all, though, was the company. We were sad to see them go at the end of the evening and are already looking forward to next year.

Daily Jamie

What's This About Terrible Twos?

 

The Swede wasn't home and I had a lot to do to prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, so I was really counting on Jamie's nap today. It did not happen. That's what I get for bragging about my three hour nap on Thursday, I guess. What did happen, however, is that this tired little fella pitched a gigantic, screaming fit from the moment I opened the front door to the moment this hot dog was in his face. In the parking lot in our neighborhood, ten minutes in the car, the parking lot at the grocery store; if I hadn't kept such superhuman composure I'm quite sure everybody who crossed us would have called BRIS on Jambo's behalf despite my clearly being the one they should feel sorry for. The hot dog did the trick, though (that's my boy!), and soon we were in a great mood and primed to run into Axel and his mom who had just experienced the exact same thing with her wild one. It does a mom's heart good to know that you're not the only one standing there frozen while your toddler writhes, screaming, on the ground.   

Daily Jamie

The Business Cas Fashion Show

Today at work, Linda told me that I over-think my outfits after I told her how a certain top made my head look too small. Like I'm the only one who's ever had that problem. Pssht. But I'm obviously guilty as charged. I mean, it doesn't get more self-involved then a regular series of selfies accompanied by an analysis of each ensemble. Nevertheless... 

 

I got this dress at H&M for ten dollars to wear on my birthday night out with the girls. It has a really pretty geometric detail in the bodice fabric and the shoulders and sleeves are transparent so I wore my trusty black blazer over it at work. And I'm going to pretend it only looked this short in the picture. Thank goodness for high den tights, know what I'm sayin'?

I loved this outfit, couldn't wait to wear it again the next week, and look forward to wearing it again soon. Those grey jeans have a ton of stretch and I was so comfortable, plus the leopard heels came through as usual, making me feel like a million bucks in the simplest outfit. 

I forget about this sweater, then find it, wear it, and love it, and finally forget about it again.

This outfit, as so many are, was so much better in my head. I'm wild about each piece individually, particularly the faux-leather-sleeved blazer, which I have to force myself not to wear every single day, but something about all of it put together made me feel less fabulous than I had dreamed. And I assure you, I dreamed and dreamed about this one.

This is a special sweater because it has a specific mission, namely to hide my gut after the dinner party we're hosting on Sunday. The extra bit of length, plus slightly short sleeves are just what I like in a sweater and the sparkle provided by discreet silver thread woven into the front (which unfortunately you can't see in this picture) is what holiday gut-hiding sweaters are all about.