I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

That was three Christmases ago, my first in Finland. I had to travel to Rovaniemi for my first white Christmas, because there was no snow in Tampere. There weren't even that much up north. This year, snow is in abundance right here in south Finland. From one of the warmest (by Finnish standards) Christmases in 2007 to one of the coldest in 2010, my life and experiences here in Finland over the past three years have been full of ups and downs. What remain constant, though, are the warmth and generosity that my Finnish friends have shown me during my stay here.

This year I have the pleasure to spend Christmas with Minna and her family. Again. I had the honour previously in 2008. Last year was with Maria and her family. I also had a lovely pre-Christmas dinner with Miia and Duncan last week. Lots of food, lots of gifts, lots of fun, lots of love.

Words aren't enough, so here are some pics! :)





After the wonderful celebration, I woke up the next day with a terrible sore throat. In a way it's a blessing, since I've eaten way too much at Minna's and Miia's, in addition to the weight-gain program my family and relatives always put me on in Taipei. As it hurts to swallow or even open my mouth, I didn't eat much of anything over the Christmas & Boxing-day weekend. A nice detox I suppose :P

Still, I felt somewhat robbed of my holidays. Already we don't get extra days off work when the holidays fall on the weekends. (This year and next are the worst.) And mine was spent suffering in bed. So this morning I went in search of sick-leave papers for a couple more days off (i.e. a trip to the doc's). Funny how after few days of around -25C, being outside in -10C today felt rather pleasant and comfortable. And no, I wasn't running a fever. Although the doctor agreed that I could use 2 days off work :D