My Sunday moment

This is my favourite Christmas present this year: a handmade notebook by my younger daughter; 20 squared pages, the size of my thumb. Kaffi is the Icelandic word for coffee.

Happy Holidays

As I write this, I'm finishing my cup of coffee and about to start preparing the rice and almond pudding, a Danish dessert that has become a tradition in our household on Christmas Eve (we open the presents after dinner tonight). The turkey is in the fridge, waiting to be prepared as well. I'm ready for a delicious feast.

I visited my new friend John Lewis and bought a white tablecloth and white napkins for our Christmas table (I love their Christmas ad this year, about the animal that had never seen Christmas). I snapped a few photos yesterday when I was getting everything ready. The berry branches are old, I bought them in Iceland many years ago and they are one of the few things I kept when we moved abroad.

Christmas wouldn't be complete without my Amazon book package. This year I got a few books from my wish list: two for the coffee table, Ralph Lauren (it's huge, filled with images) and The Natural Home by stylist Hans Blomquist. As I couldn't imagine Christmas without literature, I got a beautiful Penguin Clothbound Classics edition of Jane Austen's Persuasion. And yes, I got some Downton Abbey too. Yesterday three books from friends arrived via mail so there will be no shortage of reading material in this house over the holidays.

*Looking for inspiration for the holidays? Check out my Christmas board on Pinterest

I wish you all happy and peaceful holidays with loved ones! Or as we say in Icelandic: Gleðileg jól!

Paris: one year ago at the Palais Royal

I woke up this morning with Paris on my mind and when I looked at the date I remembered with a smile that I had arrived in Paris on this day, exactly one year ago. It so happened that I had some photos in my files from that trip that I hadn't posted on the blog. The one above shows the mood at Le Nemours café, which is right by the Palais Royal in the 1st district. We didn't sit down to have coffee, as we had just enjoyed a lovely lunch and dessert at a restaurant on the Left Bank. But it was pouring down rain and the Palais Royal passages surrounding the gardens provided shelter.