A few days of Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone!

I managed to haul much crap that are my material possessions over to my parent's house in Saarijärvi (a quiet 10,000 people town in central Finland) earlier this week. Now I'm staying here until I hop on that plane and soar over to London. Time to relax, take a breather, go on quiet walks in the nature (if no snow appears) and watch actual TV. (And be bored.)

We (mom & dad & I) had a very traditional Finnish Christmas. When I was younger I thought Christmas was pointless; it was just another day spent at home without the option to go out and see friends because they're all stuck at home too with their families. Oh, have I grown since then! It took me moving away from home to live on my own to learn to appreciate this holiday. It also helped when I started liking Christmas food. Sure, I've liked ham but didn't care too much for the casserole dishes (carrot, potato and swede). Now I was craving Christmas dinner for weeks! In addition to the food mentioned before we also had smoked salmon, cold smoked salmon tartare, rainbow trout roe and herring rolls. And the best gravy in the world! Made from the pig fat from the ham. Simple but oh so damn lovely! And of course the lovely Finnish Christmas bread - "joululimppu". Store bought, obviously, although that url will take you to a recipe. Only things we prepared ourselves were the potato casserole, herring rolls, cold smoked salmon tartare, smoked salmon, ham (which set the smoke alarm off, twice. No fire brigade was needed so no biggie!) and the gravy. And mom made mustard like every year. It's soooo good with the ham!

Omnomnomnom!

Not to mention gingerbread cookies, crackers and grapes with a cheese platter for "dessert" accompanied by Scandinavian mulled wine. Blue cheese is pretty much the only thing gingerbread is good with (apart from an android phone). I'm a cheese lover, have been since I was a little kid. My taste has since evolved but there were signs that I'd grow up to like cheesy things.

And repeat on Christmas Day! It'll take a few weeks to slim back down to my usual size...

Presents were pretty much absent this year. Dad tranferred some money to my account and I got them a DVD. I also got one gift in the mail from Maria, it turned out to be a tube scarf she knitted herself. Thank you! My one present was placed next to a plastic flower that almost looks like a poinsettia! There's really no room for an actual christmas tree here.

Everyone have a sparkling New Year's Eve! I'll be spending the night at work feeding the hungry drunken folk. I have 28 days until take-off and only 6 more shifts at work!