Merry Christmas!
This Christmas was my first Christmas as a married lady and it was simultaneously exhausting and wonderful. Jake and I visited about a billion people and bombed our kitchen from all the baked goods for the holidays.
Although marriage adds a particular holiday stress, it also creates the most magical feeling of starting all new traditions with your new family. I definitely shook Jake awake at 6am and gathered the cat to open presents with me (sorry not sorry.) It was enchanting.
There was one little surprise that really made this Christmas extra special to me.
Jake's family from Sweden sent us a package with tidbits from their country, so we could "try out a Swedish Christmas." They sent two cookbooks, spices, and a name day calendar!
I am most excited for the Glögg spices. Glögg is a Norwegian spiced wine. The smell and the taste is exactly the smell and taste of the holidays.
Jake's mom made it last year for a Christmas party at her house and the smell alone created this rich memory that only feeds my love of Christmas.
Now I need to investigate and translate the rest of the recipes and spices!
Along with the gifts from Sweden, Jake brought some Swedish smells into our apartment with some traditional Swedish treats for his mom. We also received a few dalahäst ornaments for our first Christmas tree.
I'm so grateful to be given the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with some real Swedish elements. A little bit of love from across the world is something really cool and special. I'm so happy to be apart of this family.
I hope everyone enjoyed this Christmas as much as I have and spent time with family and friends. Now it's time for 2018 (holy smokes!)
-KB