365 lahjaa

For my family, the past year has been a dramatic one. One of our children was diagnosed with a permanent illness at the end of summer, and though the worst of the crisis is over, every family member is still reacting in their own way to the changes in our everyday life. In the autumn we also celebrated a 10th birthday, and discovered that there will be yet another, new birthday in the family next spring! The cherry on top (or sugar at the bottom, as they say in Finnish) is that our due date shares its place in the calendar with our 5th wedding anniversary!

At the Christmas festivities of my daughter's school the principal, whom I happen to really like, gave a speech on the theme of gifts. He reminded us that at the beginning of the new year we all receive 365 new gifts, and that the most valuable gift each of us can give is time. There's a thought to hang on to!

These pictures were taken here and there during Christmastime. I suspect some non-Finnish readers may need an explanation for the last picture: these are gingerbread versions of some of the inhabitants of Moominvalley.

All December we had the privilege of snow (a quite ridiculous amount of it really, with periods of almost nonstop snowfall for days on end). Between Christmas and New Year it changed into rain, so now our beautiful scenery is gone. But for once we were able to enjoy the confidence of a white Christmas!

May I wish you peace and love in 2013!

Cousins, Part 2

And for the urban portion of the cousin visit, we accomplished a record number of attractions, only a few of which I managed to get pictures of!  Could it be possible that I am still exhausted from that weekend?

Happy holidays, everyone!!

Dear Amy,

I would have loved to be there! You may remember that vast landscape with few people is one of my very favorite things. We have had the privilege of an unusually snowy beginning of winter, and the kids are out just now rolling enourmous snowballs too heavy to lift. I know you, your boy, and our cousin would all appreciate this truly Nordic weather!

I think it's fair to say that lately I've been managing three jobs with my part-time studies, part-time crafts workshop, and full-time parenting. Just trying to breathe deep day by day, go with the flow (and sleep a little in between) with intensifying Christmas preparations that are beginning to be last minute. I suspect this year the holidays may genuinely feel like a vacation even to a professional homemaker.

This week I'm sharing just a few images of an ordinary day with Her Pinkiness and The Boy.

Windy and rainy? Here?

Lara, I'm sure you know by now that we just had the exciting gift of a visit from our cousin!  We accomplished a completely unprecedented number of things in a 72 hour period, so I don't think it was a very relaxing vacation for him!  Unfortunately we were so many places where we had to leave things in the car or didn't want to carry things, so I didn't even use my big fancy camera once all weekend.  But my new equally-fancy phone seems to have a fairly decent one, so I broke tradition just this once.
After some of my beach posts, our cousin mentioned that he really wanted to see the Oregon Coast on his next trip.  Even though the next trip ended up being in December, I wanted to take him just for the day.  It turns out that the weather called for a 100% chance of rain (really!) but we ended up having a bit of everything, and a LOT of wind.  (The fourth picture you can see the wind blowing the sand- it is so fascinating in person but hard to take pictures of!)  It was the perfect day. Well, I wouldn't have minded if ALL the cousins were there!
Sometimes it really bums me out that I have the BEST cousins but they are all so far away!  

Lumimyrsky

Last time I complained about the darkest time of the year: decreasing light and no snow to brighten up our surroundings. This week winter arrived, and with what force! We have had almost nonstop snow since Wednesday, and certainly by today it can be called a real blizzard. Last night my daughter and I participated in a small event in our town that marks the beginning of the Christmas season. I set up a table at the local market place to present a selection of my creations, and my daughter's class raised money by selling Christmas cards they had illustrated themselves. Those were truly Nordic market conditions! A few times the kids had to go running after cards blown away by the gusty wind, and my poor products got snowed on! It was fun, but what bliss to return to the warmth of our home.

Today I was happy I could stay inside all day. I did dare to briefly run out for some picture for you, but I could hardly see anything, let alone expose the camera to more than a few seconds of this weather at a time! The rest of Finland kept rolling as usual. Kids went to school and no question about it, there's someone coming home from work in the last picture, and can you find the picture where kids are out with their sleds? All but the first picture with Snow White were taken just when it was getting dark after 3 pm, so the blue tone is intentional. In Finland this is called the "blue moment" (sininen hetki).

How exciting to welcome December tomorrow! For some thoughts about the Finnish advent time, please check the comments to Amy's last post!

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...?

Hyvästi, aurinko

It's that dreaded time of year again. Time to say 'farewell, sun' in this house. You will not shine on these walls until February. Even on days of clear blue sky you are hiding behind the hill that rises from us towards the South. Last spring I said I couldn't survive another winter in this house, and here we still are.

At our little corner of the world, this is Finland at it's worst. The time when darkness increases day by day and we are still waiting for the illuminating effect of snow. (I have written about this before, at least here, here, and here.)

So like I did a year ago, let me return to images of Finland at it's best. Not a cloudless summer day, but one equally impressive.