Hello friends!
It’s little old me putting together our final Vanha Talo Suomi post of the 2021 calendar year, and with it, some very special holiday season wishes to all our friends and fellows.
Currently, temperatures are hovering above 0c for the remainder of the week, but slightly cooler weather is on the way. Nothing as cold as what we had 10 days ago, though. It was -20c most days and overnight was even colder! Glad that system of arctic air flow changed direction!! The scenes outside were truly magical as everything was sheathed in heavy white frost. But those scenes were enjoyed from the window!
Last time I wrote, I introduced you to fellow bloggers and supporters, and recommended several we enjoy reading about. I hope you found their pages delightful and interesting. If you missed that post, here it is again. Click Here
As this post is our final of the year, I’d like to leave you all with a simple gift. But before I can do that, I must vent a little about TRAVEL. Traveling IMHO entered a phase pre-pandemic that was more a process I had to endure so that I could get to a wonderful destination. I really came to loath the hassles, inconveniences, delays and anxiety of getting to and from a travel destination. I never used to be bothered by it all. Terrorism, and airline industry rules & standards of operation really ruined air travel for me. Getting there by car is the second-best option, but you’re limited to where you can get to with a car.
That’s why the following blogger has earned my sincere thanks and appreciation for putting aside the bothers and inconveniences of travel to venture to all corners of the globe in pursuit of the NEXT DESTINATION. Thanks to Lexie, she’s opened up the world to me in ways I never thought possible. Through her MANY adventures to nearby, as well as far-flung places around the world, she has brought destinations and places I never would have ventured to myself, right to my desktop. Please have a look:
Maybe you share the same passion for adventure and new experiences as I do, and maybe you’re driven to pursue the world with the intense passion of Lexie. Either way, hands down the experiences, sights & sites will enrich your understanding of other cultures and bring us all a little bit closer. Especially in a time when the entire world feels isolated, detached, divided and at odds with one another. Let there be peace!
Please remember to be kind to yourself. Please enjoy this small gift of adventure, and with it the thrill of travel and escape – and of seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. Be well friends!
May good fortune, happiness and good health find you in 2022, and may it follow you wherever you should go.
Thank you so very much for all the support and kind words you showered us with this year.
Until next time,
❤ Vanha Talo Suomi

Merry Christmas! 🙂
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Thank you! Merry Christmas to you as well 🙂
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Wishing you and all you love the merriest of holidays.
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Thank you! All the best to you & your family. Merry Christmas 🎄
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Oh my goodness – what a surprise to see my name and blog link here! Thank you so much for the recognition. You may even spur me to write a new post soon in spite of a dearth of recent travel! 🙂
My own views of travel have been a roller coaster during the pandemic. We had to cancel a trip to Southeast Asia right as the pandemic was starting in China, and we have not left the country since we zipped down to Guatemala as a mini-substitute for that trip early in 2020. As time has passed (and now that our replacement SE Asia trip scheduled for this month has been cancelled), I have found myself alternately longing for an exotic destination and feeling ambivalent about faraway travel for the first time. Part of me has very itchy feet, and part has come to appreciate the serenity in staying put and enjoying what is in front of me. I feel lucky to have the means and temperament for lonnnggg drives, so at least I have had the huge U.S. to explore a bit when I feel restless.
You know how much I love your blog and its glimpse into a whole different kind of travel – one that is more of a full transplantation on your part! – plus the road you have taken to hunker down and transform your house and property. I want to do that … and travel the world! For now, we can each live vicariously through the other.
Thanks again for the mention, and have a warm and cozy holiday season in Finland!
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You are very welcome! Have a very Merry Christmas
Kate
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I checked out that blog you recommended and you are right it is incredible! I could live vicariously through her pictures. And you my friend, I wish you a wonderful Christmas! Let us hope that 2022 treats us all kindly and we, each other.
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I knew you’d like it!
Merry Christmas Pam 🙂
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