Bring Christmas Home

Happy second advent! Last week Esset published an article on things you can do around Stockholm. However, for those who enjoy a more cozy indoor Christmas, fear not! Esset is here with some life hacks to bring Christmas to you! Now, your home can smell, feel, and look like Christmas.

Extra tip: Do these activities while enjoying the best Christmas drink Sweden offers: ZEUNERTS Julmust and have a Christmas playlist playing simultaneously.

Make Your Home Smell Like Christmas

This lifehack can replace scented candles for you. Candles usually have a container made of glass or metal that will later be thrown away; with this lifehack, you reduce that waste. It’s also cheaper than buying a scented candle.

Ingredients:

1. Orange

2. Cloves

3. Cinnamon sticks

4. Water

Equipment:

1. Cutting board

2. Knife

3. Saucepan

Steps:

1. Fill ¾ of the saucepan with water and put it on medium heat.

2. Cut the oranges into circular slices.

3. Place the oranges around the saucepan.

4. Add some cloves and a couple of cinnamon sticks.

5. Once the water is boiling lower to the lowest heat, let the scent fill your home. After about 1 hour, turn off your stove.

Environment-Friendly Gift Wrapping

This is the hack where you save money. Most of us constantly get complimentary newspapers we did not ask for in the mail. It’s time to start saving those up. There’s no need to spend money on wrapping paper that will be ripped off and thrown away. This lifehack is suitable for both your wallet and the environment.

Equipment:

1. Newspaper

2. Ribbon (or anything else you want to decorate your gift with)

3. Gift

Steps:

1. This step is significant. Check what’s on the newspaper page you have selected. You can’t wrap your gift with bad news. Remember, “wrapping paper” is the first thing your friend or family member experiences when opening your gift.

2. Once you've picked your newspaper page, you bring your gift and wrap it. I love writing cards, so I like to have a pocket in my wrapping. To learn how to do this, you can follow this tutorial I found.

3. Finally, you decorate your gift with ribbons, stickers, flowers, or any other decoration of your choosing and leave them under the tree. P.S. That’s totally not vodka in the bottle-shaped gift.
   

Easiest Gingerbread Cookies

Nothing says Christmas like gingerbread cookies! These gingerbread cookies are easy and quick to make, and you can even add almonds, which you don’t usually get with store-bought ones. The process of baking your own cookies is fun but as a KTH student, who really has the time? With this particular trick, you don’t need to find much time at all.

Ingredients:

1. Gingerbread dough

2. Almond flakes (if you want)

Equipment:

1. Baking tray

2. Baking paper

3. Rolling pin (or a cup)

4. Knife

5. Cutting board

Steps:

1. Slice the dough into thin pieces.

2. Cover a baking tray with baking paper and place the slices in rows.

3. Optional step: Add almond flakes to some of your cookies if you would like.

4. Roll your cookies with a rolling pin. If you do not have a rolling pin, put some oil on a cup and use it as a rolling pin. This way, you flatten your cookies and even stick the almond flakes into those you added them to. It works almost as effectively.

5. Place the baking tray in the oven. It is vital to keep an eye on the cookies as they bake very quickly. (My own turned out slightly burnt even though I followed the 6 minutes instructions on the dough).

6. Once your cookies are baked, take the tray out. Then leave it in the air for the cookies to harden.
   

Fragrant Orange-Clove Pomanders

This is your multipurpose Christmas hack. A treat for your eyes and your nose! They smell like Christmas and serve very well as a table decoration.

Ingredients:

1. Orange

2. Cloves

3. Potato peeler (if you want)

Steps:

1. Optional step: Peel a pattern on your orange.

2. If you have peeled the oranges, follow the pattern with the cloves sticking them into the oranges one by one. If not, then directly stick the cloves in a pattern of your own choosing.

3. Put the oranges in a fruit bowl or plate and have them out as table decoration.

Lights

This season is quite dark in Sweden; therefore, lighting is of the utmost importance. A Christmas tree I'd recommend is a mini one. Links to where you can buy a mini tree and decorations under 150 SEK are written below. The steps here are elementary.

Equipment:

1. Lights

2. Batteries and/or outlets

Steps:

1. Add batteries to the lighting that needs it.

2. Hang up lighting.

3. Plug-in lighting and let there be light.

If you want to go that extra mile, there is an extra step if you are willing to spend approximately 125 SEK, that is.

A tree, a top star, 1.5m light string, and ball ornaments are linked here. Many of the items exist in different colors; what has been linked are the typical Christmas colors (green tree and red and gold ornaments). The tree shown below is decorated with the same items, only in different colors.

Shakar Garmeny