Yesterday was the first advent, and tomorrow it will be December already! Time really flies!
With only 24 or 25 days to go until Christmas (depending on whether you celebrate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day), the hectic shopping season has well and truly begun.
Personally, I am still working on a present for my other half - but it will be the only present I create myself this year, as it is more time-consuming than I thought it would be.

However, just like every year, the question remains: What to get everyone? Especially since this is the first year that I will celebrate Christmas with my boyfriend's family (and repeat it all once we get to Germany to celebrate New Year's with my folks).

My boyfriend and I have been to that Swedish furniture store that is IKEA yesterday, looking for bookcases and bedframes. However, as those who have been to IKEA before will know, there is so much tempting stuff there, that you can easily forget what you wanted to buy in the first place!

You can try everything, sit on the sofas, fold the sleeping couches and try them for comfort and so on! But the most important thing is all the bric-a-brac they sell, the small things like lamps, mirrors, blankets, vases and more or less useful decorative items. I am proud I managed to get out of there without buying anything (mainly, though, because I had all my luggage with me and couldn't fit anything else into the suitcase, even if I tried.

We eventually found a bookcase that will do the trick for my boyfriend's living room /bed room. We never actually looked at bedframes, because he'll have to order online and get the things delivered anyway (there is just no way you can fit a box for a 175cm x 60cm shelf in the back of a Mini...

The last time I went to IKEA in Germany, I ended up buying a much needed sofa-bed. It's funny that this furniture chain is one of the biggest in the world - Does anyone exist who does not have at least one item from them? - and yet, people are still making fun of their "Build it yourself" style. "Immer Karton erst auspacken" or "Ich krieg' einen Anfall" come to mind as synonyms, but I don't think they're too bad! Half the furniture in my flat in Germany is from IKEA and none of it broke yet, while the stuff I didn't get from IKEA is falling apart.

I might rent a car at some point though or take the train and go to the store in Newcastle.... Saw a few little things that might just make my room look more like my room...

Jag älskar Sverige!