To prepare

It's pepparkakor (gingerbread biscuits) in the making today but as the dough needs to rest over night the actual baking won't take place until tomorrow. I always thought that making your own dough would be complicated but it's not as long as you have all the spices at home. And it just smells lovely and "Christmassy". In Sweden it's easy to find the ready made dough in any supermarket but here it's not so home made it is.

We've got a busy day today, Swedish Lucia celebrations at the Swedish Church, and M is going to a birthday party (she chose that over Lucia so I'll be on my own feeling nostalgic...) and then the
in-laws are coming over for Christmas dinner tonight before heading off to Portugal tomorrow. I will cook something Swedish and a childhood favourite is cod with a bechamel style sauce served with potatoes (will use a ricer). Cod (bacalhau) is also a Portuguese national dish so should go down well with the in-laws. In between we need to clean the house and wrap Christmas gifts. Busy busy as it should be leading up to Christmas.