Hello everyone! In years past, I have brought in the Christmas season by visiting the Swedish Church here in New York for their Christmas bazaar and it has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. At the bazaar I buy tickets for the Santa Lucia concert held the second week of December. The bazaar also features hand-painted Swedish Christmas ornaments and lovely cheeses and salmon spreads, as pictured below. By visiting the fair, I’m able to pick up some Swedish goodies to get us going. I always leave feeling inspired to kick off the holidays.

How do you begin to get ready for the holidays? Comment below!

I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of this Swedish woman in her hand-made traditional costume. She was manning the dessert table: I bought some Santa Lucia buns and some cardamon buns as well. They’re now sitting in my freezer, and great for breakfast. I pop them in the over at 450 degrees for just 15 minutes or so and am all set.

Arriving home with my bags of treats, we began our holiday decorating. First up: see if I have enough candles for my candelabras. This year I had a great little helper putting in the red candles just so.

Even though the middle candle swerved to the side, Marielle felt quite proud of herself. She since has been saying: “My candle”, “I did that” to passers-by. After putting the candles into the candelabra by herself, she hoisted it up and placed it on the side table with no help from yours truly. I marveled at how big she’s gotten and in moments like this, she shows me that she feels capable of a lot.

Despite the beginnings of Christmas, this week also has been special for me since today marked the official end to the fall soccer season, which means less driving! I’m hoping for more time at home both prepping for the holidays and sinking my teeth into work. Here’s how in my list of weekly resolutions:

Start thinking ’bout Christmas presents. The girls have been asking for a new outfit for their American Girl dolls. The boys? SO hard to buy for, just like their dad.

Plan my Mom’s birthday dinner. The Sat after Thanksgiving.

Figure out what Thanksgiving pie to bake, and decide upon a corn bread recipe.

Haul my other Christmas decorations and ornaments out of our storage locker and begin decorating the house.

Film some of the sponsored videos that are on my “to do” list… Getting longer and longer, but what a blessing, right? When a brand has the confidence in CloudMom to trust us with a review, I feel so honored and really try to do my best. It’s such an honor.

Watch episode #3 of Homeland, the only show we’ve been able to keep up with.

Advance the ball with my school volunteering projects…

So that’s about it from my corner. What’s on your agenda for the week? Thanks so much for reading and have a fabulous week. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!!

xo Melissa

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