Everything is bursting out in festive lights here at the moment. I know a lot of people profess to hating Christmas and all it stands for, but I love it all - the glögg, candles, snow, darkness, markets, time with family and friends. All of it!



The Christmas season begins a lot later in Sweden than in most other countries. I know that in Adelaide, it's the annual Christmas pageant in early to mid-November that signals the beginning of the Christmas frenzy. Once we saw Nipper and Nimble appear, followed by Santa setting himself up in the Magic Cave and the brewery Christmas lights display set up on the Torrens at Hindmarsh we knew that Christmas was just around the corner. In fact, the pageant had barely left West Terrace when I broke out the tree and decorations.

Here, I'm much more restrained. The real Christmas season is tied to the church calendar and so we have the first Sunday of advent as the start of Christmas lights, markets and shopping. There seems much less of a frenzy here. The big excitement in Nynäshamn revolves around last week's Christmas market, next Monday's Lucia parade and the annual gingerbread house making competition. The shops are very tastefully decorated and the whole gift giving thing is more low key.

I've sent out my cards to good friends here and overseas, though this is another low-key thing here. It's not so common to send out cards to every living soul you know like we do in Australia, so I've restricted mine this year to good friends and family. One of the funniest cards I got was from a friend in Egypt. She sent one with Santa on his sleigh riding past the entrance of the Temple of Luxor. It was really amusing to see and made me wonder why in Australia we don't do more in the way of seasonal cards that reflect Australia. So many of the cards I'm getting are of snowy landscapes and very European scenes. Come on, guys, I've got enough snow here already!

Today it is Lars-Göran's birthday! I'm not allowed to say how old he is, but it is somewhere between 52 and 54. We had his family party last night. It would be easier to organise an audience with the pope than to get his family to agree on a suitable time/day to meet up and celebrate. Everyone is busy, especially at this time of the year. We can't have it on the weekend as his son is always busy recording at his music studio, the other kids work odd hours, then there is his brother's family schedule and on a weekday it has to be after work for all of us. So last night it was! We all met up at my mother-in-law's house as it is easier for her. We brought the food and drink with us and did all the setting up and clearing up. It was lovely and he was particularly happy to spend time all together. He also got a great B&D Powerfile from the kids. He was overjoyed as he's been eyeing these off at the local "boy's toys" shops here.

Afterwards, we went into town with one of his daughters and had a look at the Christmas windows in Nordiska Kompaniet. This is a lovely department store in central Stockholm and every year they set up a marvellous, animated store front display. There is great excitement on the first Sunday of Advent when it is unveiled for the first time. We used to have the Myer Christmas window display, but this is on a much grander scale.

The first window featured Santa in his sleigh. You can spy me in the corner, to give you an idea of how big they are.



The next window was a really charming display of snowmen, playing with snowballs. You can see quite a few people stopping to take a look, despite the late hour. If you look at the top of the windows, they have pine boughs that make it look as though you are out in the forest, peeping in.



We moved on to a woodland scene. It was so cute! There were lots of tiny little animals looking out of trees, from behind rocks and in the bushes. Each window has it's own music and a little verse written on a open book.



Now we moved on to my favourite window - the lolly maker. There was so much detail to look at - people mixing up christmas goodies, making glögg and gingerbread and pappa snoring in his bed upstairs. There were also a host of tiny animals under the tables and outside looking in. I'm sure any child would be mesmerised by this window.



Now we move on to something more dramatic. This is the realm of the Snow Queen. This window was in shades of silver, white and blue and looked really frosty and cold. Doesn't she look regal and haughty? Again there were lots of small animals, most of them wearing fur hats and rugged up in fur coats to ward off the chill.



The final window was of a scene outside a house with christmas cards, gingerbread figures and children frolicing in the snow. Very fun-filled and joyful and exactly what Christmas should be about.



It may have been nicer if there was snow about, but really it was a perfect evening to be out - +4C with a fresh breeze and more importantly dry underfoot made it easy to get about and look around. Not to mention the fact that there are far fewer people at that hour of the night.

The rest of the city is decked out in the minimalist-Scandinavian way - a few white lights and generally understated decorations. None of the blaring Buy! Buy! Buy! demands that seemed to have hi-jacked Christmas in so many other lands.