Love, food and family= fabulous Christmas

We have been enjoying our vacation so much that I have not even been blogging. Or maybe you can say that we have been so wonderfully lazy that I have not even blogged. However, I try to think of the blog as a substitute for a journal, I should be better about updating it. We obviously arrived to Finland safely; however, this time the traveling seemed more taxing than usual. It must have been the five hour lay-over in Chicago before a seven hour flight and the three hour lay-over in Manchester that made the travel time feel like forever.

The one disappointment about this Christmas was the lack of snow. We have not seen the sun for a week now because it has been so cloudy so it's difficult to know what time of the day it is when you look outside. Usually the snow makes it lighter and obviously more beautiful. We had a wonderful Christmas with all of the usual Christmas traditions. Even though we don't have any small children in our family right now, we were all very excited about opening our presents.
Before opening presents, we read the Christmas story from Luke and sang Christmas songs. If we had kids, Santa Claus would come and visit us on Christmas Eve and hand out the presents to us.

In Finland, the whole country shuts down for Christmas. Everything closes after 12 pm on Christmas Eve and stores and such don't open until the 27th. It is quite the contrast to the U.S and I think it really brings the Christmas spirit and gives an opportunity to spend quality time with a family. Our sleeping schedule has been messed up since we have been up until 2 am most nights playing games or watching a movie. Troy and I are usually in bed by 10 pm so it has been quite the change, but that's what a vacation is about:)

Our family picture for 2007.

We went ice-skating the weekend before Christmas. Our feet and ankles got pretty tired very quickly but it was fun to get out and do something different.


One of the Christmas traditions in Finland is taking a candle to the cemetery to a family member's grave. It might sound creepy if you have not experienced it, but it is beautiful and peaceful. This happens on the Christmas Eve and it is beautiful as you can see thousands of candles lit as it is pitch black outside. Mom's grave site is two hours away from Helsinki so we did not drive there but we took a candle to my dad's grandma's grave.


Troy and I also decided to be get out of the house and went to the Young Single Adult dance last night. Troy bought me a nice dress for Christmas so it was fun to get to wear it for more exciting occasion than church. I love dancing and there are not too many chances for that as a married couple, so I enjoyed the time on the dance floor. I will post some pictures as I get them from our friends.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the time with family and friends.