Joulu Suomessa! (Christmas in Finland!)

Hyvää Joulua!

Saila is in the middle.

This post is going to be all about Christmas, as the title would suggest.
A pikkujoulu is literally a “little Christmas” party. A couple of weeks before Christmas, the daycare of Saila (my host sister) had a little pageant for their pikkujoulu. They sang songs and did some dances. Crowd participation was encouraged; luckily they had a couple sheets of the lyrics. During one number, some of the little kids dressed as the Moomin, a really famous book and TV phenomenon in Finland. Saila was the infamous Pikku Myy. About a week later, Konsta, my younger host brother had a pikkujoulu outside at his ala-aste (elementary school).

My school's g pageant.

Each class put on a little performance. I think that Konsta’s class’ performance was about the three wise men. Konsta was the Christmas star. During a couple of the other classes’ performances I tried taking pictures. When I focus my camera a little red light turns on. As I tried to take photos of the pikkujoulu bright red lines appeared on all the little kids because their snow suits all have reflective strips. It was kind of heart-warming to see all of these little kids trying to sing Christmas songs. On the last day of school our school had a Christmas pageant at the church with a play and several musical performances. A few of my friends were actors and musicians. Afterwards there was an unofficial party for the kids from the Lukio.

Paappa cutting the tree down.

The weekend before Christmas, I went with my host mother Sanna, her parents (my host grandparents), and my siblings Saila and Konsta. We drove to the grandparents’ house in Untamala the village where Sanna grew up, which is part of the larger community of Ylistaro. It has since been annexed by Seinäjoki. We drove along some back road and then just stopped the car and starting looking around the forest for the perfect Christmas tree. It was the first time I have chopped down my Christmas tree in the forest. Normally at home in Canada my family goes to a Christmas tree farm in October to pick out our tree and then we come back in December to cut it down. After we found the tree, the largest I have ever had at about 10 or 11 feet, we made a little fire, cooked some makkara, ate some pulla, and drank juice. Sanna needed to drive Konsta to a hockey pikkujoulu so I spent the afternoon with Saila and her grandparents who speak limited English. It was successful to me because I communicated with only a few struggles due to the language barrier. We brought the tree inside and decorated it a few days on the 21^st. I missed having the ornaments that have been on my tree every year since I can remember but it was nice to see some of the ones made by my host siblings. At home, my family puts a lot more decorations on the tree then we did here.

I have always been a terrible procrastinator when it comes to Christmas shopping. This year, when I received a package from home, I was happy because I had gifts for both of my host mothers: a maple scented candle and a set of Canadian flag dish towels. A couple of days before Christmas I went shopping with Kalle and his sister Emma in Seinäjoki, but I only bought something for each of the two sets of host parents. I did the majority of my shopping (as per usual) on Christmas Eve. I got boxes of candy for each of my host brothers. For my host sister, I had already acquired a purse and a little change purse which I proceeded to fill with a small package of salmiakki. For each of my host fathers I bought a “flame thrower”; every year at home I get my dad a BBQ lighter so I thought I would do the same thing this year.

Christmas (Eve) Dinner

On Christmas Eve, Finns celebrate Christmas. We ate an early, but delicious dinner. The joulukinkku (Christmas ham) was cooked overnight and was served with a selection of laatikot (literally boxes) of cooked pâté-like food: one of each potatoes, carrots, liver, and rutabaga.

That evening at about 5 o’clock after mummi and paappa arrived, Joulupukki walked up the driveway to the front door with sacks of toys. We graciously welcomed him into our home and Saila presented him with a wrapped gift. We proceeded to sing him two songs: “Tuiki tuiki tähtönen” (twinkle twinkle little star) and “Joulupuu on rakennettu” (no English equivalent; something like “the Christmas tree is decorated”)

L to R: Sampo, Saila, Joulupukki, me, Konsta

Then he handed out all of the presents and posed for some pictures before taking the 5 dozen eggs we gave him. I don’t know what he and Mrs. Claus will do with them because they don’t drink egg nog here in Finland. We all went around the circle in a semi-organized manner and opened all of our presents. I was not expecting any gifts but I was very surprised with my “haul”: five boxes of candy, a hand painted mug from one host grandmother, a CD from my other host grandmother’s choir, two books in Finnish (a children’s book called “Joulupukki” and a book of photos of this region of Finland), a pair of Reinos which a popular brand of slippers/indoor shoes, a box set of all the Big Bang Theory from my parents in Canada, and a lovely hand written letter from my grandma back home. All the boys in the house got a pair of these shoes. Some other notable gifts include a TV for Sampo, some hockey shoulder pads for Konsta, an electric dog for Saila. Petri received a guitar; I feel like everyone in the house knows how to play Smoke on the Water as I have heard it seemingly non-stop since December 24. In the evening the other Kettunen family (my first host family) came for a visit.

Guess who?

(It's me!)

Ilari showed off his present which is this crazy camouflage suit that looks like some interpretation of Sasquatch. Jaana and I made a trip to the graveyard to place a candle. Because it was very dark and we entered the graveyard from the opposite side which Jaana normally uses, we accidentally place the candle on the wrong grave, but she quickly spotted the mistake and we proceeded to find the correct grave and re-lay the candle. The cemetery looked really nice with all the candles but Jaana said it was the first time she ever remembers going there at Christmas with no snow. Late into the night we played a game of Pohjanmaa Tähti (Ostrobothnia Star) which is an adaptation of the popular children’s game Afrikan Tähti (African Star).

The next day, December 25, Christmas Day, we went to mummi and paappa’s house (Sanna’s parent’s house) with all of the cousins. We ate another full, early Christmas dinner almost identical to the previous night, except this one had a turkey roast (not a full turkey) in addition to the ham. I noticed there that Konsta looks so much like his uncle Mikko. The proud grandparents have a really nice picture take a couple of years ago of all seven of their grandkids. That night, I had a nice Skype conversation with my family (Mom, Dad, and sister Roslyn), my mom’s parents, one of my cousins and his wife, and my Auntie Sandy.

December 26 is basically like a second day of Christmas here in Finland. Most stores are still closed and the “boxing day” sales aren’t until the 27^th. I went with my family (minus Sanna because she was working) to mummi and ukki’s house (Petri’s parents) for yet another full Christmas dinner. Three consecutive days had the same meal, each day at a different house. My first host family came as well as mummi and ukki and Jarmo’s parents as well.

My Finnish families

Christmas was really good. I did miss some things from home but I am very grateful to have such wonderful family here in Finland. Some things I am definitely going to add to my personal holiday traditions. I want to add joulutorttu and piparkakku to my Christmas baking list. I also want to have some of the laatikot with dinner.
Hyvää uutta vuotta kaikille! Happy New Year to everyone!