Merry Xmas from Finland!
Hyvää Joulua – God Jul!
Denna post endast på engelska. Tämä postaus vain englanniksi.
I would like to wish all my readers a very relaxing holiday time, with lots of good will and knitting, spinning or whatever hobby you love.
I’d also like to tell you a little about how we celebrate at this dark time of the year. Yes, the picture above was taken today at 15:40, half an hour after sunset. I was outdoors walking my dog when I took this picture.
Many people have already left their homes for xmas holidays. The 24th is the main festivity, when the xmas dinner takes place and all the gifts are given. Many people stress madly before xmas and the last preparations are made on Xmas Eve, but after 1pm everything gets quiet. People might go to the sauna to clean themselves, the last decorations are put in place, and after that the kids only wait, for a long time it seems, for Father Christmas / Santa Claus / Joulupukki / Julgubben, whatever they like to call him.
The rest of Xmas Eve is spent checking out all the presents and playing games together. The Xmas day used to be a quiet day when everything was closed and people stayed in their houses. Now it’s a day for social life, visits and such. The second day, Boxing Day, is the traditional sleighride /car ride day.
It’s a pity that most of Finland is snowless this year, and no sleighs can be used, not even by Santa!
Anyway, it’s a season for relaxing and rest. The next newspaper comes out on Friday! Everything is closed. Perfect time for me to work on the things that are late. But that will happen on Boxing Day, St. Stephen’s day.
My neighbors have aquired a lot of animals in December: the gelding Chili, the mare Pilaris, a foal called Ihmetys (the wondering), a Spotted pony foal called Tarina (Story) , an ewe called Helmi and her lamb called Helmiina. No, there’s not a UFO in the pic above, I believe it’s a raindrop. We don’t know what race the sheep are.
