Saturday, January 10, 2009

A Gift from Sweden

Last week, I received a wonderful gift from Sweden!  I was so excited as I love gifts (who doesn't?), especially if they are from lovely new friends in lovely places!  My dear blogging friend Poppins decided that I should try a certain Swedish Christmas sweet (Juleskum) she had mentioned in a post (I have a very sweet tooth).  So she went to the trouble of sending me a wonderful and thoughtful care package!
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You can imagine how excited I was when I opened her parcel with all these things!
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Not only did she send me two packages of Juleskum (also called tomteskum), she also sent me a gorgeous Swedish decorating magazine called "Hem & Antik" (which means "home and antique" since it's a beautiful blend of contemporary and antique styles).  See, my Swedish is improving already!  And she sent me Christmas decorations and a lovely vintage postcard.
  The juleskum are very sweet pink marshmallow fruit candy in the shape of Santa Claus.  They are delicious, fruity, chewy, and very, very sweet.  So far I have eaten one every day (I am rationing) but really want to just keep them to look at and smile at!
Poppins also gave me an adorable set of felt ornaments for my Christmas tree - aren't they lovely?  They remind me of shortbread cookies and look good enough to eat. I love them because they are so thoughtful and pretty and seem very Swedish to me. 

Here's how they look on the tiny tree in my kitchen:
We're taking the decorations down tomorrow, but I'm happy I got to enjoy them for the past week.  They look just like cookies, don't they?
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I've also enjoyed reading "Hem & Antik" immensely.  Let me tell you, the Swedish decorating magazines are everything you'd expect and more (I wonder what they'd charge for a subscription to Canada?).  I took some photos of pages in the magazine, which is full of gorgeous and unique rooms, and lots of white!  I'm starting to pick up a few Swedish words too, but boy is it hard to read a magazine in a language you don't know at all!  I kept looking at the captions over-and-over until I realized it really wasn't helping!
I loved the bare branch Christmas "tree" in the photo above, decorated with old-fashioned things.  It is so elegant.
The white room above is picture perfect with its real winter foliage!

I really love this elegant room - the placement of a beautiful table at the end of the bed is such a wonderful idea.  Isn't this a perfect vignette?!
Thanks Poppins for your thoughtful gift!  
Your gift really lifted my spirits at a difficult time!
~ T H A N K   Y O U ~

13 comments:

  1. What a lovely care package!! The sweets look delicious, and beautiful magazines are always wonderful! The felt ornaments are so sweet, and they do look like shortbread cookies! I love how the light filters softly through them on your tree. We just took ours down the other day - I'm always sad to see them go!
    xo Isa

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  2. Sweet Terri! I am glad that you liked your little present. And I understand that it must be difficult to read a Swedish magazine. I remember when I was in Prague and did not understand a single word! Their language has nothing in common with Swedish or English. It made me feel "lost in translation". LoL
    xo Poppins

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  3. Aren't you a lucky thing! What a gorgeous gift.

    I love your new header, well done :)

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  4. Poppins sent you such a wonderful package of treasures...I love those felted ornaments and, of course, you're in heaven with that delightful magazine. That bare branches tree is lovely. Enjoy your candy...it looks yummy to me.

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  5. Paris? I believe? What an interesting way that the streets all spoke out...now probably the entire world knew this, but I did not.

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  6. How sweet - those are the most beautiful cookies - I'm not sure I could eat them!

    there are one or two Swedish magazines you can get digitally from either Zinio or the Digital Newsagent.

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  7. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.
    Those little Santas look yummy. I can't believe you can only eat one. My sweet tooth is terrible. I'm sure I would have eaten all of them in one day!
    The Swedish magazine is beautiful!

    xo
    Brooke

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  8. Oh that magazine looks awesome! (I'm searching right now with the loss of Cottage Living & really wish I could read Swedish!!) I also have a slight obession with white...

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  9. How sweet to get such a thoughtful gift! If you find out how to get the subscription please share with the rest of us...beautiful pictures.

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  10. How fabulous to receive such a lovingly put together collection of gifts. Those felt ornaments really do look like shortbreads!
    Great new blog header - a shot you took yourself no doubt.

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  11. Oh I'm so jealous what I great care package. I love trying out new candy from different countries. Yummy. Plus that magazine looks amazing! I'm not wondering what a subscription would be to NY.

    It was very sweet of Poppins to send these gifts your way!

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  12. Lucky you!! What a great surprise, and I know you will find a way to decipher the language in the magazine...

    I also love that table at the end of the bed. Hmm... it has me thinking!

    Hope you`re keeping warm, Terri. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are having record low temperatures!!

    Cheers,
    Linda

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  13. What a lovely package, so many goodies and a magazine to top it off. What more can a gal ask for? Hugs ~lynne~

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