Hello friends!

Today is 24 December 2024, the daylight hours are +28 seconds longer than yesterday, which can be summoned up thus — yippeee! —

Growing up in the USA, most Americans celebrate Christmas, well on Christmas Day, not on Christmas Eve, but eve is how Finns prefer to do things. Pekka wasn’t up at the crack of dawn putting his hams in the oven, so, they will be finished roasting sometime around bedtime tonight! I don’t partake in meat consumption, so it makes not a difference to me. 🙂

I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and leave you with some happy thoughts. Please enjoy the following HELSINKI SANOMAT (HS.FI) story, which is about a Gingerbread ‘House’ baking competition held recently in Helsinki. The theme was ‘Favorite Place’ – the adult category winner was a woman who depicted her childhood memory of the legendary Stockmann’s Department Store window. (For anyone unfamiliar with Stockmann’s – a quick google search would pull up images of the window through the years, it’s quite magical.)

The children’s category winner was 9-year old Greta from Helsinki, who depicted a carousel with horses – both are magical and so creative. There were 175 bakers in the adult category and 53,000 votes were cast, competition among entries was fierce.

However you choose to celebrate Christmas, or on what day, or not at all even – just know I’m wrapping up this little message and sending it your way. It’s a gift of thanks and good tidings, a bundle of cheer and best wishes, but most of all, it’s a smile and a hug to get you through the day, week, month and into the next year.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hyvää Joulua Kaikille! Feliz Navidad! Buon Natale!

❤ Vanha Talo Suomi