Thursday, November 22, 2012
Friends
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Today I am busy cooking way too much food for just a few people, so here is a look back on a day last week with the boy and his friend. Enjoy, and let the holiday season begin! Lara, in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, I wonder if there is another significant day that so solidly kicks off the holiday season...?
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3 comments:
Amy, this feels like straight out of Winnie-the-Pooh!
Even tho Finland isn't very religious, holidays are still influenced by the Lutheran church calendar so the first of advent usually marks the official beginning of the Christmas season. Like everywhere else, the stores here start in earlier, tho mostly not much before mid-November I think.
I should point out that the holiday season (including school break) lasts until January 6 (Epiphany). Christmas trees at home are usually only brought in just before Christmas and taken down on Epiphany. I guess it's just very difficult to let go of any extra source of light and sparkle at this time of year :)
I would also say first advent Sunday. Also in Finland it's common to celebrate pikkujoulu, "little Christmas", but there is no set date for this. Employers treat their workers to a night out as a reward for the year's work, and families celebrate at home, with or without guests. I'm not from a traditional Finnish family, so at least I don't remember that "little Christmas" would have been important in our home, but my husband is, so I have learned about this later on. A "little Christmas" at home basically means a low-scale Christmas-like celebration: a small selection of traditional holiday food and/or desserts, maybe a small present, and often sauna. The basic idea is creating some Christmas spirit. "Little Christmas" is also celebrated in schools (most kids belong to the Lutheran church whether their parents are religious or not, so this is usually not a problem).
That sounds a whole lot like what we simply call a holiday party. My workplace has a party for employees a couple weeks before Christmas, and the store closes a couple of hours early so that all the employees can go to the party and celebrate together. Happy holidays!
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