The first sign that Christmas approaches is that mom starts to get hectic. She always gets hyped up when first of Advent arrives, she starts cleaning furiously, change all the curtains and chase the cats around with the vacuum like life depended on it - while nagging at everyone else for not helping out, even though she's already done the things she wants us to do.

Four Sundays before Christmas is the start of Advent, which pretty much means "in waiting". It's custom to light a candle foe each Sunday that passes, and when it's Christmas we light all four of the candles. Sometimes we fikar together on those days, eat saffron buns and drink glögg (mulled and spiced wine)

Generally, the first day of Advent is called Skyltsöndag (lit. sign sunday) because all the stores have been busy decorating their shop windows with christmas themes, and on the evening that Sunday they unveil it all. There's a fair taking place in most cities where you can get bread, cookies, sometimes they have lotteries, vendors sell winter gear (sometimes I've seen them selling scooters and cars too), and generally it's a nice tradition. :)

On the 10th of December (my nameday :D) there's the Nobel prize gala, it's aired on the tv and I tend to watch it... the concert and the dinner and dance afterwards at least, the award itself is generally pretty boring with old people holding speeches.
Dunno why this feels like Christmas.. it does, anyway.

On the 13th of December it's Luciaafton (Lucia's eve). It's a tradition that celebrates St Lucia, an Italian saint who is associated with light and peace. Every school, music school, daycare center and sometimes even workplaces practice their christmas carols, and on the morning (usually for schools) or evening (in church) people gather in a dark room. Then Lucia and her maidens walks in on a line, the Lucia (portrayed by some lucky girl that was chosen by the rest of the kids) with a crown of light (traditionally living candles, but the younger and more informal the event, the more common it is to have electric lights instead) while the maids have one candle in their hands, dressed in white gowns and with red ribbons or tinsel around the waist. If there are boys/guys participating they can be dressed as Stjärngossar (starboys) in white robes with a cone hat on the head, or as various tomtar (puck, elf, brownie) gingerbread men or other (again, depending on the seriousness of the situation. In more formal situations like church, the guys just wear white and hold a candle like the rest of the maids).
And then they sing carols, a priest or principal might hold a speech, and then the event is over.

The 23rd of December is my birthday. Because of that, mom tries to get all the food and preparations done in advance, so that I can have my own day. She's usually still cooking into the night anyway, but I appreciate the thought. :P

At Christmas Eve the 24th of December (we celebrate the eve, not Christmas day) my family tend to start the day with a porridge breakfast (riceporridge with a vanilla cane and sometimes an almond inside, bread with various spreads like smoked salmon, ham, eggs, pickled herring.)
Then we have time on our own. Sometimes we go to our grandparents over Christmas, sometimes my sisters and their family come to visit us. If my family is at our place, we've begun to take a walk around noon, especially when it's snow outside.
But always at 3pm we sit down by the Tv to watch "Donald Ducks' Christmas Calender". Every year, without fail. It's the same clips every year, but somehow it's always as amusing as last year.
Either we've eaten before Don'Duck, or we eat afterwards. The table consists of;
Boiled potatoes, spare-ribs, meatballs and sausages, egg, salmon (smoked and marinated in custard and dill) sometimes stockfish, dried and salted meat, more pickled herring in various marquetries, mimosa salad (mayonnaise and whipped cream with sliced fruits, canned or fresh), beetroot salad (pickled beetroot's or fresh grated beetroot mixed with mayonnaise), and most importantly, the Christmas ham - which is basically a whole ham boiled and glazed with custard.

Without fail, we will be eating leftovers for the next three days, then again at New Years - unless mom is inspired and makes a more fancy dinner.
After we've eaten, we gather around the tree and hand out the presents, people sit a chat for a while, and then it's often time to go to bed.

And that's Swedish Christmas (local version).