It’s definitely starting to feel like Christmas! It’s not only cold but yesterday the Christmas Market season started, which always makes me silly and excited. I really enjoy the atmosphere of the Swedish julmarknad, crowded with people all milling about, looking, shopping and sampling the food and mulled wine. Many towns and villages have beautiful outdoor markets at this time of the year, with some of the castles also playing host to large, well attended markets. I especially love the markets held at night, but I've only seen that once in Kungsträdgården in central Stockholm. I hope to get to Gothenburg one year to see Liseberg at Christmas.

So yesterday we set off after our breakfast in the best of Advent moods to Nyköping to see the small market in the main square and to look at the shop front windows. There is a larger market at the harbour, but we thought we'd leave it for a weekday when the kids are at school.

I was initially dismayed by the first few stalls, which consisted of a few vendors, who frankly sold a lot of crap - mostly cheap, nasty merchandise made in China. But I was pleased that they were only on the fringes, soon the real stalls began.




This thing I am holding in my hand is a furry cover for your bike seat. What do you reckon, Justine? Make a nice "surprise" gift for the Scotsman? I was sorely tempted to get one for him and L-G just to see their faces when they opened their present, but decided that I didn't fancy living quite so dangerously.




We were quite early this year, something of a surprise for us as we are usually so slow to get going in the mornings, so the market was not too crowded as I wandered about. I did miss the snow, though, which has disappeared for now. I stopped and looked at the pretty fresh Christmas wreaths, handcrafted and beautifully decorated with the finest fresh fir, cedar, pine and blue berried juniper. I, of course want them all! But we have a wreath already, so I was just browsing.




Then I spotted a stall selling fresh plants (mostly poinsettia and amaryllis) and would you believe, a whole stand of straw pigs!!! I ran there and tried to convince L-G that they all needed to come home with us, but he gave me the narrow eyed Grinch look, so I was allowed to choose ONE medium sized pig to keep my straw goat company, plus a small pig which will be winging its way to Oregon next week to Heidi's home.




They had some fresh pine table centres which were beautiful as well, lots of lovely figures made of moss and fresh conifer boughs. I found a topiary dog, but at 300kr was not allowed to buy it. I thought it might look jolly on our balcony table or perhaps keep Lambi company, but no, so I left it with its other friends.




Aren't those penguins made of moss great? Don't I need them badly? See, I knew you would all understand, but not every member of the family was in agreement that this was a "necessary" purchase. So again, I had to leave them very reluctantly behind. I really ought to go to these things alone, I think.




The other stall that interested me was one with wrought iron candle holders. There was one lovely one - round, twirly wire made into a ball and a space in the middle for a tea light candle. But I really have nowhere to put it, so I didn't get it. Still, I love to look at these candle holders.

It's hard to convey to those who live in bright, sunny countries just how much we crave light up here in the dark north of the world. When you have so few hours of daylight as we have at this time of the year, we try and make warm pools of light in our homes, using candles in a variety of holders. It creates a warmth, a light and a welcome feeling when you step in from the bitter cold and darkness. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times candles appeared on my shopping list in Adelaide. But here in Sweden during the winter months, it's a permanent fixture.




Milling about in the square, creating a splash of welcome colour on a dull day and occasionally breaking into song were the young students from the local theatre school dressed in costume to promote their upcoming performance of the perennial Christmas favourite - The Nutcracker.




Every now and again, a tinkling bell warned us that a pony and cart were coming through, with a load of beaming children just delighted to be drawn around. The smiles on the children's faces were a joy to see and in a cynical age shows that there still remains the magic of childhood.




The Salvos were there with their band, playing a lovely selection of very traditional Christmas carols, which was perfect in this setting. t was neither intrusive nor corny and I found myself humming to my favourite carol (Hark the Herald Angels Sing) with a tear in my eye.

For me, the best thing about the Christmas market was the overall festive mood. The weather was crisp and cold, but you didn't really notice it, because you warm yourself with cups of hot glögg, the spiced red wine that is synonymous with Swedish Christmas markets.




With the exception of some really nice wrought iron work, glass blown ornaments and decorations made out of straw, most of the merchandise here is the same as you can buy in any Christmas shop. But I don't just go to shop, I also like to eat, drink, talk with locals, and look at the Christmas displays in the shop fronts.




Most of the shops have gone very minimalist this year, which was somewhat of a surprise, but we did find a few shops with pretty, old fashioned displays. The over-the-top bling factor that one sees in some countries is not popular here - no garish flashing coloured lights and dancing Santas. It's as though at Christmas, Swedes like to return to a simpler time. I find it all quite restful and charming.




The windows we've pictured here as well as this garden area is part of a lovely shop and café in the middle of town called Hellmanska Gården. This glorious building dates from 1720 and was one of the first buildings to be erected after the Russians burned down the entire town the year before. Since that time it has been a spice emporium and these days there is a literal Aladdin's cave of a shop bursting with home furnishing ideas, a smaller food shop and a café with the best looking sandwiches and cakes I've seen.




The back entrance was guarded by these little trolls on hay bales under a Christmas tree and it looked so inviting and cheerful that you were drawn in immediately. I love browsing in shops like this, full of beautiful and practical things for the home. I spied a couple of baskets that I'd like for my hallway, but as we had the dog with us, we could not really go into either the shop or the café. But we've marked it down as one we must see - perhaps next week on Tomtenatten, when the shops will be open late.




There were sections set up with colour schemes to suit every taste, festooned with little touches to make Christmas a cheerful time. Swedes really go in for the full window treatments in their homes, with many people having special Christmas curtains, special pots and ornaments to complement their advent lights.




L-G was never really into the whole Christmas decorating thing when I first arrived. This nearly killed me, because decorating for Christmas is one of my favourite things! Over the years, I think my enthusiasm has become infectious and lately he has even admitted that he's learned to love setting it all up, just because I love it so much. See, he's a real softy and not at all the meanie I sometimes make him out to be.




By this time, we had been walking around for nearly three hours and my feet were tired. As Lambi was with us (in the backpack of course - she doesn't do crowds very well on foot) we couldn't pop in to a café to rest our weary legs and grab a bite to eat. And it was hardly the weather to sit outside, so we made our way back to the car.

We were a little disappointed that the street lights, made up of garlands of lovely stars strung across the road were not lit. It was a perfect day to really light up the place, but no doubt in this land of bureaucracy gone mad, it would have involved weeks of delicate negotiations and a mountain of paperwork to allow that to happen.




In a country without Thanksgiving, the Christmas season is clearly defined by the beginning of Advent. And as a country steeped in tradition, those times surrounding the holiday are among its best. I've heard it said by expats here that these markets are a bit too commercialised and even tacky by some standards. But I have to say that there's something special about being part of an event that has been going on for hundreds of years. And, after all, it's Christmas, and there's no better way to get in the spirit than to visit a Christmas market!