An impatient Christmas

Today, I was asked what Christmas is like in Australia and I mentioned that often the presents will be opened relatively early so that the kids have lots of time to play and enjoy their new toys. In Finland, they generally open them after the Christmas meal. When I said this, one of the grandparents in the room remarked, ' It is a sign of impatience. Finns are disciplined.'

'Umm, it is the 24th, Christmas Eve. Not Christmas.'

I actually don't know why they celebrate the Eve but I assume it is to get an extra day off. I don't mind when anything is celebrated really, as long as it comes accompanied by good food. And today, it was. Being a winter Christmas, there was no traditional barbecue which I find quite strange but it is still good food nonetheless.

I am pretty sure that most families in Finland have pretty much the same range on offer; different fish dishes, baked ham, and casseroles (swede, potato, sweet potato, carrot). Today, everything was homemade but it is not uncommon for the casseroles to be bought ready. I think it is because they all pretty much taste the same regardless of which it is.

The bread in this picture is made by my wife's mum and is one of my favourite breads in Finland. It is called 'Saaristo Leipä' which means Archipelago bread. I am guessing it originated in the region. It is a malt bread and has dark syrup to make it sweet. I can eat a lot of it.

The ham is well, ham. Pictures of ham don't really do it justice, there is no good side to a baked ham but with a decent mustard, it is delicious. I can eat a lot of ham too which is lucky, because there is a 5.5 kilo ham sitting on our balcony still. I didn't take any pictures of the casseroles as they look like they taste, all the same and boring.

We were at my wife's sister's house where we have spent a few years in a row and she likes to both cook and decorate and is pretty good at each of them. It does feel quite nice to sit around and smell the spruce tree and think how lame our decorations are at home. I enjoy being there, even though because of the 'ham fiasco' last night, I only got 1,5 hours sleep. After a glass of wine, I was ready to pass out, but... presents.

Because of a series of unfortunate events last year, our daughter's first Christmas was at home watching my wife eat all the ham by herself while I was in hospital and the rest of the family were sick. This year, she got to be lied to by her mother (her father stayed silent so is complicit in the lie) and tricked by her grandfather. She got introduced to Santa. What made me happy at this point was she was not so interested and played with the dog instead. I was a bit disappointed she didn't shout 'Papa* immediately but, there is always next year.

True to form, the first present she opened was a book and while others opened presents, she read about ghosts. after some time, she did warm up to the present opening and she really enjoyed picking up the paper and putting it in the bin. Yep, she is going to be that kid at school.

I joke, mostly. It was a nice day and I am glad that it will end with me getting to have a sleep so that we can do it all again (minus the presents) at my wife's parent's place tomorrow. So much food. What did I get for Christmas? Fat. I got fat.

Merry Christmas and holidays and whatever politically correct forms there may be for all the people who take traditions very seriously.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

Oh, the photos are straight out of the camera and shot on an Olympus EM-1 with a 12-40 2.8 Pro lens.