Swedish Christmas Bazaar

We went to the Christmas Bazaar at the House of Sweden (the Swedish embassy) last Saturday. It was a little crowded but definitely worth it...if for no other reason than to spend a little time in one of my favorite buildings in DC.

The architecture of this building is so inspiring to me as a designer. I love the materials, openness and transparency, site, signage, everything.

You enter into an atrium that's enclosed with glass walls that have water running down them. It's part of a permanent installation entitled March 6 pm by Swedish artist Ingegerd Råman. There is glass and water throughout the building, all part of this piece. Some of the glass is etched, frosted, combined with granite...all meant to invoke the Swedish landscape of water and ice. The space might sound cold or hard when described this way, but it really isn't. It's beautiful.

Here's Peter being a good sport and posing in front of the water wall.

There were lots of cute kids running around, of course.

And lots of Swedish goodies for sale. Can you guess what I bought?

I got a new little white Dala horse to go with my older blue one. I thought he was getting a little lonely on the mantel all by himself, and now he has a friend. Don't they look cute together?

They also had some pretty decorations up along the waterfront.

I like the simple green and gold theme.

The next day, we went to another Christmas fair, but I'll save that for another post.

Also, I promise it won't be all Christmas posts for the entire month. :)