Bringing this over from yesterday's thread:
A jollier thought... What do y'all think? My bet: with the new schedule, Adam is in Finland for a white Christmas! Resident Fins: it's a little early, I know, and may seem obscene to, for example, our poor central texans in their 105 degree heat, but what's christmas like in Finland/Helsinki? I'll bet it's pretty damn magical, and I, like Adam, am a "diet Jew." judging by northern Germany, which is the Christmas tradition I know best, through my mom, those northern Europeans do it right!
WARNING! Christmas talk coming - if you're not interested in it, please scroll!
Christmas in Finland is great! It has to be - you do know that Santa Claus lives here and not at the North Pole, right?
Seriously speaking, Christmas in Finland is really great. Of course, lot's of it depends on the weather but if we have a winter like the couple past ones have been, it's going to be beautiful. Sometimes (if it's very warm in December), in southern Finland there might not be snow at Christmas, but if there is, it's really gorgeous.
It is usually celebrated quite quietly and peacefully, with your family and/or close friends. The major celebration takes place on Christmas Eve, when also the gifts are given (instead of Christmas Day). All the public services (except for the critical ones, like hospitals etc) are closed for the holidays - even public transportation stops around 3 o'clock in the afternoon on Christmas Eve and starts again on Christmas Day around midday. Also, almost all of the shops close very early on Christmas Eve and don't open until Boxing day, at the earliest.
On Christmas Eve, at 12 o'clock the Chief of Staff of the city of Turku declares peace for the Christmastide to whole Finland. This is a tradition which started already in the 14th century and the event is televised through the whole country. At least when I was a child, it was very common that everyone in the family gathered around to watch the declaration, and I still do - it's part of my Christmas.
Since Christmas is in the middle of the darkest season here (the sun doesn't come up in the Lapland at all), there are usually a lot of lights for decoration, but I have to say that some of you Americans do outdo us in that respect!
One of the major shopping streets in Helsinki, called Aleksanterikatu, is decorated from one end to the other with lights and shops put different Christmas installations on their windows, and there are lots of lights on other streets as well. You can hear Christmas music everywhere might run into Santa Claus - or two or three of them - while you're walking around the streets. Other decorations include paper snow flakes in windows, fir branches, flowers like poinsettias or hyacints, and of course, a Christmas tree.
Food is an essential part of Christmas celebration here, as well. There are traditional Finnish dishes which will be served during the whole Christmas. Many people eat the traditional Christmas ham, but also turkey has become more popular here. Also swede casserole, sweet potato casserole, and different types of fish (for example, salmon) are typical treats. And of course we have ginger bread and mince pies!
As for drinks, the traditional one is of course glögi, usually made of red wine, sugar, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and bitter orange, and optionally also stronger spirits such as vodka, akvavit or brandy (but there is also a totally non-alcoholic version of it available).
Okay, this was just a small peak - there's a lot more to it - but I hope you get some idea of it.
I really don't think we are going to get anyone leaking a "Micheline man" shot this time around.
