I december vill barnen baka kakor och vara hemma med familjen.

I december means in December or during December.

In Swedish, i is commonly used with:

• months: i december
• seasons: i vinter
• years: i år
• general time periods: i veckan

So this is the normal way to express time here.

In Swedish, names of months are usually not capitalized, unlike in English.

So:

• English: December
• Swedish: december

The same is true for days of the week and many other time words.

This is because Swedish follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

Here, I december has been placed first. That means the verb must come next:

• I december = first position
• vill = second position
• barnen = after the verb

So:

• Barnen vill baka kakor ... = neutral order
• I december vill barnen baka kakor ... = time expression first, so the verb comes before the subject

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Swedish.

Barnen is the definite plural form and means the children.

• barn = child / children
• barnet = the child
• barnen = the children

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a specific group of children, so Swedish uses the definite form barnen.

Yes. Barn is one of those Swedish nouns where the indefinite singular and indefinite plural look the same.

So:

• ett barn = a child
• två barn = two children

You understand singular or plural from the context, articles, or other words in the sentence.

Because vilja is a modal verb, and modal verbs in Swedish are followed by the bare infinitive.

So:

• vill baka
• vill vara

not:

• vill att baka
• vill att vara

This is similar to English:

• want to bake uses to but
• after modals like can, must, will, English also uses a bare infinitive: can bake, must go

Swedish modal verbs commonly include:

• kan
• ska
• måste
• vill
• bör
• får

Because both verbs depend on vill.

The structure is:

• vill baka
• vill vara

The second verb does not need another vill because och joins the two infinitives:

• vill baka kakor och vara hemma

So the children want to bake cookies and be at home.

This is very natural Swedish.

Kakor is the indefinite plural and means cookies in a general sense.

• en kaka = a cookie
• kakor = cookies
• kakan = the cookie
• kakorna = the cookies

Here, the sentence is not talking about specific cookies already known to the listener. It just means they want to do some cookie-baking, so kakor is the natural choice.

This is a very common Swedish distinction:

• hem = home, with a sense of movement/direction
• hemma = at home, with a sense of location/state

So:

• gå hem = go home
• vara hemma = be/stay at home

Since the sentence says vara hemma and describes being in a place, hemma is correct.

In Swedish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

So:

• familj = family
• familjen = the family

That is why Swedish does not use a separate word like English the here.

After med, this is completely normal:

• med familjen = with the family

Because hemma belongs closely with vara:

• vara hemma = be at home

That whole idea comes first, and then Swedish adds med familjen to say with the family.

So the structure is roughly:

• want [to bake cookies] and [to be at home] [with the family]

This word order sounds natural and clear in Swedish.

A more neutral version would be:

Barnen vill baka kakor och vara hemma med familjen i december.

That version starts with the subject barnen, so the order becomes:

• Barnen = subject
• vill = verb
• rest of sentence follows

The original sentence simply moves I december to the front for emphasis or flow, and that triggers the V2 word order:

• I december vill barnen ...

Both are grammatical, but the original highlights the time first.