Christmas time! This time me and Mathilde decided to spend it apart, Mathilde heading to Angers, and me to wintery Finland. It was all a bit touch and go for me, since European airports were in a rather chaotic state, as I’m sure you can remember. I had a changeover in Frankfurt, which had just reopened the day before my departure… My flight left with an hour and a half of delay, and unsurprisingly, I missed my connection. So I got to spend a night in Frankfurt – yippee! At least they put me up at the Sheraton…
Thankfully I got a seat on the first flight on Christmas eve, so I did get to spend Xmas in snowy Finland in the end. And a snowy Finland it was indeed – nice change compared to the snowless Christmases we’ve had to put up with the last few years. The Christmas eve festivities took place at my brother Tomi’s place in Espoo. The whole clan was there, including my parents, Janne & Katja (who was actually working, and arrived later), as well as all of Tomi’s and Leena’s children (including Mick’s little Mimosa!). What ensured was a rather traditional Finnish Christmas eve celebration, with a traditional meal – prepared to a large part by my god-daughter Julia (who is studying to be a chef). In addition to the normal smoked salmon, rossoli, ham, etc. we were also treated to some French pates and some wild boar. The highlight was, of course, opening up the pressies. I was treated to a Moomin towel, a couple of books, a Finnish DVD, and some clothes, among other things! Top
The next day it was time to celebrate my mum’s birthday. Her birthday was actually already on the 23rd – but better late than never I suppose. I got her a collection of George Brassens records for the occasion – part of her French cultural education, if you will. The lineup for the dinner (French style this one, with Champagne, Foie Gras, smoked duck and some deliciously tender lamb meat, followed by a “nearly authentic” Buche de Noel) was pretty much the same as for the night before – the Turtiainen clan basically. Great evening again, with delicious food and rather vivid socializing (for a group of Finns, anyways ;-). Music numbers from Janne and Nanna’s boyfriend spiced up the proceedings. I finished the soiree playing board games with Janne and Katja (Janne, lucky git, won again. I’m sure he must be cheating or something…). We did have the pleasure of digging Mick’s car out of the snow as well (the joys of the Finnish winter, eh!?).
The rest of my stay in Finland was spent chilling out, going to the cinema (I saw the Town and Rare Exports – a truly classic Christmas movie), a bit of shopping (got myself some gloves, which lasted the whole of 2 days – that’s Stocka quality for ya) and just generally doing nothing. It felt pretty good to just spend some time doing nothing (with the -15 degrees temperatures, I wasn’t all that motivated to do much anyway – not used to real winter anymore I suppose?). I did head out to Grani for a night out drinking with Jani and Jocke – great catching up with them again (not bad, Jocke’s new flat, either). I was quite amazed by the amount of construction that’s happened in Grani since I last went there – I’ve seen that phenomenon in Espoo but didn’t realize it would hit “Kaunis Grani” as much as Espoo. Mind you, the town centre is still dog ugly ;-). Also met up with Aki (who works for Fulbright these days) for lunch at Hakaniemen Tori.
For my last night in Finland, I headed out for a meal with mum, dad, Janne and Katja. The selected venue was a small, cozy place on Museokatu – the name of which I can’t remember for the life of me. Great choice – the place was suitably intimate, tastefully decorated in typical Finnish minimalist style, the service was good if understated (hey, it’s Finland, after all), and the food was great and good value as well (we had the degustation menu – 5 courses for 40 Euros isn’t bad if you ask me). The wine was of course outrageously expensive – but hey that’s Finland for you.
I did have the opportunity to meet up with Maikki, Jarkko and Aapo in Vantaa before catching my flight. Good to see they are setting in well in the Capital region as well, in their nice house. And Aapo is growing up fast!
That’s it, another Christmas gone then. Next, destination Paris, for new year with Mathilde!
Thankfully I got a seat on the first flight on Christmas eve, so I did get to spend Xmas in snowy Finland in the end. And a snowy Finland it was indeed – nice change compared to the snowless Christmases we’ve had to put up with the last few years. The Christmas eve festivities took place at my brother Tomi’s place in Espoo. The whole clan was there, including my parents, Janne & Katja (who was actually working, and arrived later), as well as all of Tomi’s and Leena’s children (including Mick’s little Mimosa!). What ensured was a rather traditional Finnish Christmas eve celebration, with a traditional meal – prepared to a large part by my god-daughter Julia (who is studying to be a chef). In addition to the normal smoked salmon, rossoli, ham, etc. we were also treated to some French pates and some wild boar. The highlight was, of course, opening up the pressies. I was treated to a Moomin towel, a couple of books, a Finnish DVD, and some clothes, among other things! Top 
The next day it was time to celebrate my mum’s birthday. Her birthday was actually already on the 23rd – but better late than never I suppose. I got her a collection of George Brassens records for the occasion – part of her French cultural education, if you will. The lineup for the dinner (French style this one, with Champagne, Foie Gras, smoked duck and some deliciously tender lamb meat, followed by a “nearly authentic” Buche de Noel) was pretty much the same as for the night before – the Turtiainen clan basically. Great evening again, with delicious food and rather vivid socializing (for a group of Finns, anyways ;-). Music numbers from Janne and Nanna’s boyfriend spiced up the proceedings. I finished the soiree playing board games with Janne and Katja (Janne, lucky git, won again. I’m sure he must be cheating or something…). We did have the pleasure of digging Mick’s car out of the snow as well (the joys of the Finnish winter, eh!?).
The rest of my stay in Finland was spent chilling out, going to the cinema (I saw the Town and Rare Exports – a truly classic Christmas movie), a bit of shopping (got myself some gloves, which lasted the whole of 2 days – that’s Stocka quality for ya) and just generally doing nothing. It felt pretty good to just spend some time doing nothing (with the -15 degrees temperatures, I wasn’t all that motivated to do much anyway – not used to real winter anymore I suppose?). I did head out to Grani for a night out drinking with Jani and Jocke – great catching up with them again (not bad, Jocke’s new flat, either). I was quite amazed by the amount of construction that’s happened in Grani since I last went there – I’ve seen that phenomenon in Espoo but didn’t realize it would hit “Kaunis Grani” as much as Espoo. Mind you, the town centre is still dog ugly ;-). Also met up with Aki (who works for Fulbright these days) for lunch at Hakaniemen Tori.
For my last night in Finland, I headed out for a meal with mum, dad, Janne and Katja. The selected venue was a small, cozy place on Museokatu – the name of which I can’t remember for the life of me. Great choice – the place was suitably intimate, tastefully decorated in typical Finnish minimalist style, the service was good if understated (hey, it’s Finland, after all), and the food was great and good value as well (we had the degustation menu – 5 courses for 40 Euros isn’t bad if you ask me). The wine was of course outrageously expensive – but hey that’s Finland for you.I did have the opportunity to meet up with Maikki, Jarkko and Aapo in Vantaa before catching my flight. Good to see they are setting in well in the Capital region as well, in their nice house. And Aapo is growing up fast!
That’s it, another Christmas gone then. Next, destination Paris, for new year with Mathilde!
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