My second winter as a student in Oulu, I spent the entire Christmas break with my adopted friendship family, the Hannus family. When they picked me up from my student apartment complex near the university, I was ready to go. It had mostly cleared out for the break time with students scattering around the world, until studies resumed again in January.
Merry Christmas! Well, Christmas Eve at least! I am baking pulla with Nastya. Basically no one is here in Lapinkaari. That is ok. It makes using the kitchen much easier and I can sing in my room. On Thursday, I went out to the Turtola shopping area. Not as big as Lielahti, but still nice. I bought some ribbon that wasn’t on sale and then got some just like it at Tiimari in Tulintori for 70% off. Well, lets just say I’ll have enough “Hyvää joulua” ribbon for a while.
Christmas seems, at this point, to be right around the corner - at least in Minneapolis. Although I am not setting up extra Christmas decorations and decorating the tree quite yet, the weather has taken a turn to be chilly and we are expecting our first local snow tomorrow. I leave some things up year round, because tontut (elves) and the Swedish ljusstake (candlabra) have their spots in my apartment and should not be boxed the majority of the year, in my opinion. I am really looking forward to mixing this season up a bit more than I have been able to the past few years with a focus on creating collective experiences, more homemade consumable and personal gifts, and just keeping more connected and engaged than the throes of the pandemic have allowed in recent times.
