It’s one degree below freezing and sunny here in NYC.

I do wish we had snow, but am definitely not complaining about this pleasant mild weather.

Instead, I added some white fluffiness with this new vest that I scored at Marshall’s this week for $30. Very cozy.

Today, I celebrated a Swedish Christmas with my family, in New York.

We woke up at the crack of dawn and my mom made porridge, like she always does on Christmas morning. Nobody really likes it, but it is tradition, and it went over surprisingly well with the American side of the family.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, so we took a walk and then started preparing the Christmas feast. I was very proud that we had lots of greens at the table.

There was, of course, potatoes. Swedes love their potatoes.

And their gravlax.

My mom and sister made Jansson’s Frestelse, which the youngest member of our crew referred to as fish pie. It’s really more like a creamy anchovies and potato gratin.

Instead of meatballs, I made veggie dog bites.

We had organic snaps.

Hard and soft bread.

And, no meal is complete without some cheese.

We put everything away, I broke a glass and cut my finger, then we had some champagne mimosas.

Then, finally, it was time to open prezzies. We had decided to not buy anything for each other, but my mom and dad surprised me with two Marimekko mugs that I had been ogling the other day at a Scandinavian design shop here in Williamsburg.

My sweetheart gave me a bendable tripod, I’ve been wanting one of those forever! (Clearly I am very happy about it.)

When all the presents under the tree had been opened, I also had a remote control for my camera, a juicer, and a new coffee maker by my side. All very useful stuff!

Instead of buying gifts for everyone in the family, we all get something for $10, wrap it up with no labels, then play a game. The rules are simple: put the prezzies on the table, set a timer for 15 minutes, roll the dice — two of the same means you get to take a present, you are allowed to steal other people’s presents. I ended up with nothing, sometimes you win sometimes not.

To end the night off, we watched a movie while having some more drinks, chocolate, apples and delicious knäck that my aunt made for us. God Jul! (That’s Merry Christmas! to you non-Swedes)

1. Go to Christmas Tree shop. As someone who does not like to pay too much for anything, I felt the $80-100 that the sidewalk tree vendors in my neighborhood wanted was way too much. I researched and found that the most reasonably priced trees in Brooklyn can be found at Home Depot in Gowanus.

2. Pick tree. I had two criteria: it couldn’t be too wide and had to be taller than me. This 7-foot balsam (err, thanks fact checker) fraser fir was dense, symmetric and $35. Score.

3. Secure tree to top of Mini. I thought the tree would be bigger than the car and it would look really funny, but it wasn’t that bad. It also stayed on the whole way home, which was a very good thing.

4. String lights.

5. Add bling.

6. Step back and adjust. I hate seeing wires, and the lights are still a bit uneven.

7. Rest and admire, decide to finish another time. Now, I just feel like laying down in the sofa with some kombucha and a magazine and putting my slipper-clad feet up. The ornaments can wait. Stay tuned…

I love going for long walks in my neighborhood, exploring new, uncharted territory.

Found a cute Mexican place the other day, where we had a huge plate of nachos at the table next to the Christmas tree. You can’t really tell in the pictures, but the lights in the tree are little limes, salt shakers and beer bottles.

/// hat and shirt, both stolen from my man ///

I’m waiting for some friends to come over for glögg and celebrate Lucia (if you don’t know what that is I will tell you tomorrow).

Check out my “Holiday Gifts for the Urban Warrior” gift guide, published in Coco Eco Magazine (here) and on Goodlifer (here). It’s time to get shopping for those prezzies!

If anyone is wondering what to get me, a pair of those crystal & bullet earrings would not be a bad idea…