As it is Christmas Eve, I think it is worth just posting some photos of the surroundings and letting things lay around a bit. It has been a pretty long year and a difficult few months, so it is okay just to take some time out and chill. And since this is our "off year" for Christmas, we were at my sister-in-law's place, and she did the majority of the work. We all took something, but not having to host at all, took a lot of the pressure off, plus, the group is smaller. Next year, we will have the older kids and their respective partners with us at our place, and fingers crossed (for me at least) I am hoping for a little baby from one of them to hold.
Last night I also did something that I don't think I have seen in Finland to date. I made a pomander. I don't know much about them, but it was a thing when I was a kid, and I had an orange and some cloves on hand, so why not. According to my daughter though, an elf made it in the night.
But more my style were the non-alcoholic drinks on offer. Every year my wife's sister makes these really nice and fresh drink mixes, and this year was one of the best. It had ice cubes decorated with star anise, orange, rosemary and a cinammon stick - and the mix was a citrus soda with a glögi (mulled wine kind of thing) base.
And everything looked great.
They have a lovely apartment in the city, and it is always well decorated for whatever season it happens to be, with bits of the forest brought inside, whether it be flowers in the spring, or fir tree branches in the winter. It had a very nice and relaxed Christmas feel this year, without it being too fancy.
And my mother in law made one of my favourite breads - saaristolais leipä, which I enjoy with a lot of butter. It is a sweetish bread with dark syrup, sour milk, and a number of grains - and tastes fantastic. Especially with a bit of baked ham on it.
And speaking of ham...
That was not ours. My wife made our 7kg ham yesterday, and we like it just a little bit drier, so we let the core get to 80C. But weirdly and for the first time ever, it literally fell off the bone when we were moving it from one tray to another. It is going to taste great still, and we will have it tomorrow and on Boxing Day (26th) when my wife's parents visit us for lunch, but it looks like a dog's breakfast.
And speaking of a dog's breakfast.
This was my gift to my wife and Smallsteps.
Git cards are lame.
But this one is a little different, as it is a voucher that is redeemable for a dachshund in the future. Yes, I finally caved and decided that they can get another dog. It won't happen immediately, but it could be that there will be one boy puppy available next autumn, which would be the sibling of the one we dogsit now. I'd be happy if we can get one with a similar temperament.
We don't do gifts for the adults, except a Secret Santa that is randomly assigned and we have a spending limit. I got my wife's brother-in-law, who is a specialist doctor who is often on call. So for him, I went slightly over the spending limit and got him a nice bottle of cognac and a satin sleeping mask. On the card I wrote, "I am not on call tomorrow". And, for the second year in a row, he got me, so the gift I received was a stovetop espresso maker, that is made for an induction stove. This is good, because I was actually looking at getting one in the summer, but decided against it - but wanted it.
So yeah, it was a nice day and evening spent in a place where I didn't have to talk much, because not many spoke English. And, while they sang Christmas songs at one point, I didn't have to sing, as they were in Finnish too. Score. Tomorrow, it is even more my style - a pyjama day. We are just going to chillout, talk to my brother, eat more Christmas food, play some games and watch Home Alone 2, because my daughter got to watch the original yesterday and thought it was funny enough. It is my wife's favourite Christmas movie, and she watches it every year.
How's your Christmas looking?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
