Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I sure did! Even though I did miss my family and our Christmas celebrations it was very nice to be apart of something foreign and totally different this holiday season. There is a lot to talk about so I'll just get right to it!
Like many in Finland, and also in the United States, families celebrate Christmas the most on Christmas Eve. Thus, on the morning of Christmas Eve my host family has a tradition of saunaing in the morning and then eating a nice big bowl of rice porridge for breakfast.
So we all started eating our rice porridge and, as tradition, looked for the one almond that was hidden in the porridge. Whoever got it was allowed one wish and would be lucky when the new year came. I didn't get the almond though, my host cousin Santeri got it. I guess I will have bad luck now!
Then, after eating the porridge we headed out to the old city center (the one where the Christmas market was located) to hear the Christmas day speech. By the looks of it, I think everyone living in Turku came to this speech! The speech was said in both Finnish and Swedish and took roughly six minutes to complete. After this we went back home to prepare the Christmas feast.
It was nice to see so many people gathering for this very old traditional speech. But it was also nice to get out of the crowd and start preparing the feast. The walk to the center made me hungry!
The food was all very good but I would have to say that I think I could only eat it once a year. Overall my favorite dishes were the salmon with their mushroom sauces, the cheese and smoked turkey, and also the rutabaga mash. But of course the best of all was dessert!
I would have to say I did a very good job on my pies for being the first time ever making one. And I think they were a hit since both pies were finished off for breakfast on Christmas morning! Overall the food was delicious and, of course, like any feast, I ate too much. Therefore, after dinner, we all got comfy in the living room and watched a traditional Finnish Christmas movie called "Joulutarina" = Christmas Story, and waited for Joulupukki (Santa Claus) to arrive!
The movie took place in Lapland (where all Finns think Santa lives( hee-hee)) about a young orphan boy who was taken in by his village after his parents fell in the frozen lake and died. He changed families every year and during every Christmas he would carve out figurines for all his past and present families. There is more to the story but I don't want to ruin it for you. I plan on finding it and watching it next Christmas. Overall Santa Claus was born in Lapland and still lives there today in a town called Roveniemi. Or so the Finns say. We, of course, know Santa lives in the North Pole. But don't try to argue this with a Finn. It will never end. Believe me I know!
Ironically, after the movie Joulupukki himself came over to deliver gifts!
After Joulupukki left we all opened our gifts and spent the rest of the evening talking and playing with what we got. It was a delightful Christmas and something very different than the one back home. The next day, officially Christmas, was spent eating the left over Christmas food and watching some TV. I spent the day skyping though and opening gifts from home!
I hope you're Christmas parties were as wonderful as this Finland one was! I plan on bringing Finland Christmas back home with me to use next year so everyone can see and taste what it was like. I loved it and will miss it next year, but I am definitely looking forward to Grandma's pierogies and my own family next holiday season!
I will post soon! Hopefully I will get some pictures from New Years!
Until then, Happy New Year!
Love,
Karlee
