Friday, November 30, 2012

A smile in the post!

This morning, I was awakened by the postman ringing the doorbell. I answered the door in my pyjamas, but I don't really care about that.

To my delight, it was a little package from my mum! Check out the photos to see how she gave me a bunch of smiles today and for Christmas.


First time a parcel has been tied with a festive red ribbon!


A tube of hand cream and a present for under the tree! When it eventually goes up :) But what are those two objects at the bottom wrapped in paper?


These two cuties travelled halfway across the world to be with me this Christmas. They already look like best buds. Awwwww!


What should I name them??

Monday, November 19, 2012

Swedish Christmas Market 2012 @ Rotterdam

It's that time of the year again, when I get all excited about Christmas markets and all things cosy and Christmassy!

To start the season off, we went to the Swedish Christmas market at the Svenska Sjömanskyrkan - the Swedish church - at Zalmhaven in Rotterdam. Wayne and Martijn had planned to go as well, so we met them there. Zalmhaven is a really beautiful area, with fantastic old and big homes (which are mostly no longer homes as they are too expensive) and right on the Maas.

As Rik and I were early, we decided to take some photos outside with the nice autumn leaves.


Me and the Euromast.



Me in front of a pretty building.



The building of the Swedish church itself isn't very outstanding, but they have a nice plaque with their address on it.


It wasn't very big inside, with only about 10 stalls in total. But I found it better than the German Christmas markets in Düsseldorf that we visited last year. Well, those looked Christmassy and were really busy, but I was disappointed that most of them sold things that they bought from suppliers. It was really commercial and that's not what I like about markets.

At the Swedish market, things were definitely a lot more Swedish-based, some were handmade and some were just supplied, but it was super busy and popular all the same. Things weren't very cheap, which is unfortunate, as our purse strings are extremely tight at the moment, what with me being jobless and all. But we were definitely open for buying tea light holders to make the home cosy for Christmas/winter. There were paraffin candles in the shape of snowballs, which were super cute, but quite pricey at € 4 a pop. But at the same stall, we found two amazing holders made of crystal, that look like ice... also for € 4 per piece. So we bought them :) After all, they will last year after year, unlike the paraffin ones!


Looking really pretty on the windowsill.


Next week is the Finnish Christmas market, so I'm looking forward to that since I have absolutely no idea of Finnish culture!