Almost the new year already!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday!
We did :o)
I might even go to detail one of these days, but with the kids home and even DH off work this week (it's his birthday today!) my computer time is limited.
I will share this photo from Christmas Eve. Not your typical Christmas photo, but one of my favorite things.

This is a shot taken at the biggest graveyard in Helsinki at 8.30pm on Christmas Eve. The tradition here is to take candles to your loved ones graves at Christmas, it is an ocean of flickering candles where ever you look. I only wish I had taken my tripod along... this shaky shot was taken leaning to a tree and holding my breath LOL!

I've fallen behind on my journal again, not surprisingly though. But here are days 21-25.

Photos of my home that day. And yes... we were not supposed to use red and green...but ROFL... call me a rebel.

My to-do list that day. I only missed one thing then....and that was ironing...

Our stockings, not part of Finnish Christmas, we adopted them during our years in Michigan. We also adapted the tradition to fit, ours are dug into already the morning of Christmas Eve.

The big day for us. Family, food and gifts galore.

Christmas Day for us is lazing around and playing with our new toys :o)

And if you haven't figured out my format... the same square and rectangle shapes, white journaling around the edges, ribbon tab and a transparency on every page. And sticking to a color group.

By popular demand...LOL!

Some of my decorations... You have already seen my tree :o)

- Diningroom -
The table still needs a tablecloth. It was there, but DH managed to spill milk all over it, sigh. A grey cloth covered with a white organza with silver squares. I promise to take another photo...with fresh roses too LOL!
My favorite ornament is the angel dress I bought a few years a go. I attached some feathers to it, it's place is on the chandelier among the glass ornaments.

-Livingroom -
The tree naturally. Lots and lots of candles. Our stockings, handmade by me. And my happy "tonttu's" aka elfs. One bought, one made by Niina, the candle wax stained yarn ones used to hang in my grandmother's tree. They like to team up with the horse my uncle played with as a kid. On my tree hang two sugarplum fairies, the blue is Niina's there is a yellow one for Saara. I made those some years back. I love my 'snowballs', clear glass balls, I inserted a white feather. The beaded star is this year's find.

Some yummies from yesterday's baking. I love these Target bought Snickers tins from '96, '97 and '98. Do they still have Norman Rockwell paintings on them? I'd love to have just one more.

- Kitchen -
The Merry Christmas sign was a gift from my new friend Anna. I have my Christmas quilted wall hanging up, extra ornaments in a jar on top of my oven, and our advent candelabra doubles as a card holder :o)

There is never enough light. Never.

Peace

I'm baking all day today. Wanted to send a Christmas wish of peace to all of you.

These are some traditional Finnish star shaped prune jam tarts (don't be scared by the prune bit, I make my own jam and add a bit off brandy in it, makes all the difference!)

Don't you just love your mailman...

...during these days before Christmas? I do! He brought me a fabulous secret santa package from my TIPster gal Karen. I'm grinning here!

I got some great stuff to play with and the girls got some Pepperidge Farm goldfish and Cheetos!

Another thing I'm really impressed with the way our new neighborhood grocery store owner is making an effort. They held a kids concert the other week at the store, 20 minutes with a favorite crocheted teddybear Titi-Nalle (big as life, think Barney, but white and 500% less annoying LOL) which ended with goodie bags for the kids. These two weeks before Christmas you have been able to get a cup of hot coffee or glogg (Scandinavian Chrsitmas time drink) and gingerbread coookies when you go shopping. Today they had gingerbread decorating for kids (no age limit heheheee) plus tonight the doorbell rang and I was given a bag with a Christmas card and bread as a present.

I said it was impressing.
wow.
All this just a 300 meter (about the same in yards) walk away.
Gotta love that.

About the 'Journal Your Christmas' class I'm taking:
I signed up for the class here http://www.shimelle.com/ . Check out some of the classes starting, there are some interesting ones!
I get a daily email prompting me to journal about something specific that day. Also included is an artistic challenge, some days I'm able to incorporate it, others not. I'm just glad that isn't a big deal, after all it is an art journal and there are no rules.

And TA-DAA!!!
I'm caught up!!!! Here are days 17 to 20.

The journaling is about giving out the perfect gifts, as in the recipient is 'getting' it too. I have a tradition with my dear friend that every year I make a new ornament for their tree. And every year they speculate what I'll think of this year.

Christmas dinner. OK, I wasn't able to do the artistic challenge, but I did include a photo of the bread I baked... does that count? And I had to edit that Shakespeare quote just a bit :oP

My letter to Santa. Yes, I've been extra good this year :o)
That Santa ding is one of my faves.

mail. *grin* I had saved that moomin stamp for something special. This was it.

Our tree is up!

I let the girls have free range this year, they said they liked the pink ornaments (surprise). Mika does not like the results, but I've told him to shut up and just live with it. He's more of a monochromatic guy LOL!

I've still got lots to do this week, still haven't figured what to get my in-laws...

Aaahhh... the mailman is here, looks like he'll be running a good three hours late this week!

I've also been working on my xmas journal, I'm hoping to actually get caught up this week. Here are days 13 to 16.

Handing out presents rituals. I painted the Santa transparency from the back.

Favorite Christmas song (It Must Have Been Ol' Santa Claus), I blame my sister for this LOL!

OK, so I didn't use the words visitors, or company...or keep it simple.. so sue me heheheeee...

Kiitos= thank you. Among the things I am grateful for are a working oven, the mailman, hugs, candles and love.

Almost caught up, yay!

Just a couple days and I'm there :o)

It's all about the squares, right?

OK, so I admit... the envelope still waits for the journaling. But I have thought about it if that counts LOL!

The striped and shiny red are two of my wrapping papers this year. I like to do my wrapping alone.

My Christmas tree isn't going up until Friday, but I do have my ornaments out. These are this years colors. Took a photo of them, although the hot pink printed out as red on the transparency, hmmpph. You can't really see my ornament hanger too clearly since I use transparent fishing line. There's a bit tied between the top two brads.

Onni= happiness. I used a piece of mica I had hanging around for the longest time! Added a rub on to it.

Happy Lucia Day!

Today, Dec 13th is Lucia Day , the festival of light, in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Lucia is the bringer of light with her crown of candles. We crave for that light here in the dark. The original Lucia was a young Christian girl from the town of Syracuse, on the Italian island of Sicily. She was beheaded by sword on the 13th of December in 304 A.D. during the persecutions of Christians that occurred in the late Roman empire.The most typical Lucia celebration is the Lucia Procession, which consists of a group of young girls and boys singing traditional songs. Every town elects a Lucia, and she will go on a parade through the streets dressed in white with a red ribbon round her waist and wearing a chandelier on her head.

I have the girls back home with me. They took a cruise with my dad. Boy was it quiet here while they were gone. I'm ready to go dig out some earplugs now LOL!

We visited my girlfriend today to see her two week old baby boy. Aaaahhhh...baby therapy. He was just adorable. And I can't believe I forgot to take my camera with me [slapping forehead].

I tell you, it pays off to have a geek in the house. I am the proud owner of a brand new flat 20" widescreen monitor! Wooo hooo! I love it.

What else... let me think. Oh, I finally took photos of a couple projects. They are both presents, so I'm not mentioning names ;o)

The purse is just too cute. Saara is now whining for one.

The scarf is crocheted of mohair thread, it's light as a feather, I weaved organza, sequin and velvet ribbons in it.

I'm off to make more Christmas cards and to try to catch up on my journal. The problem is I fall behind more every day ROFL!

More journal pages

Catching up slowly

Journaling is about a childhood Christmas where I helped my uncle as he did his rounds as Santa. I trailed along as an elf. (Here in Finland Santa actually shows up at people's houses on Christmas Eve bringing presents and singing with the kids) The other side is about a Christmas when we had a small fire.

My take on Christmas shopping. The chipboard tag is from a shirt to DH.

Christmas journal progress

After watching a few people doing Shimelle's online Journal Your Christmas class, I decided to treat myself to an early present :o)

As I jumped in on day 6, I am desperately trying to catch up. I've finished my first 5 pages, hoping to catch up more tonight and tomorrow.

My album is 7½ x 7½, and since it is spiral bound I'm trying to keep my pages as flat as possible. This is the cover.

And a closeup of the hearts, I covered them with diamond glaze and dropped tiny beads in them.

My dedication page. I decided to make my pages the same format, just changing colors and other design elements.

Day 2. I made the snowflake with tiny tags.

Day 3. The image is one of my alltime favorite Christmas card pictures.

Day 4. Christmas at home. Drew the house... can you tell?

Day 5. My girls' advent calendar this year.

I just cannot...

...function properly without the use of my computer. It's time to admit that addiction.
I guess not an addiction, but just the fact that all the info I need these days is on my hard drive. Addresslists, photos, emails.

***breaking news***
DH just sent me a textmessage to drop by the office and pick up an extra monitor they have!!! I get to borrow a flat 17" monitor. Woooo hooo!

Off to go get it
*BIG GRIN*

I'm cursed.

First the phone. Then the oven. Now my monitor!!!
Excuse me for a minute while I SCREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMM!

So as it stands, it might take a while for me to get a new one, I'm stuck on using DH's lap top when he lets me have it or my mother's computer with an insanely bad monitor that gives me a headache.

Hence...I won't be able to share photos for a while.

This is truly the moment when I realize I cannot be without my computer.
I'm afraid I won't necessarily be here every day.

At least my oven is being fixed tomorrow.
Sigh.

I'll be back on Tuesday

Tomorrow afternoon we leave for a two day cruise to Stockholm, Sweden and back. We are celebrating my MIL Mirja's 70th birthday. We'll be dressed up fancy for dinner tomorrow, and yes, I'll haul my camera along LOL!
But now I'll go tie a few bows to my Christmas wreaths, change the wall quilt to a wintery one and scrap. I think I have my mojo back. I've been in a funk with this flu. It's still bugging me...

The new banner shows you what colors my Christmas tree will wear this year.

She's so grown up, sniff.

Today the kids performed the dances they have practiced for the Mayor's reception.

Wow. They were dressed up and very nervous. You could see them counting the steps in their heads :o) Towards the end they were loosening up a little and you started seeing smiles.

Next week Wednesday is the reception at Finlandia Hall. Imagine 5000 ten year olds... And silly me just volunteered to help. I think I might be certifiable. I mean 5000 kids?!? What was I thinking?

But they do look cute don't they? Saara and Joakim.

And I was already told off... "Mom! You took a zillion photos, that was sooooo embarrassing!" Naaah, not a zillion, just 110 :oP

Happy December!

Hmm.. I need to make a festive banner. Better get my ornaments out so I can take a photo!

I woke up early this morning, wrapped myself under the covers and thought I'd stay there warm for a bit more as I didn't have to get up for another 45 minutes. Five minutes later I hear Saara asking her Dad if it was December 1st. Then it hit me... I had forgotten to set out the girls' advent calendar! The thought did cross my mind the previous night but had disappeared fast. So I told Saara to stay in bed, it was still early and I pulled on woollen socks and tiptoed to the basement to haul it out. Luckily the girls in their enthusiasm didn't notice I had a few presents missing (I took care of those this afternoon).

Wish someone made me a advent calendar like this. With scrapping goodies naturally :o)

The wannabe architect :o)

Tomorrow is December, it's snowing (or slushing to be exact LOL) outside, had no place to go today, so I had time to play. I had baked these gingerbread parts just before my oven busted and they were calling out to be built.

I haven't made a gingerbread house in six years. The last time I managed to get second degree burns (really nasty BIG blisters!) on four (or was it five?) of my fingers... How? I assemble the houses using melted sugar. Needless to say it is extremely hot. I dipped one roof part, went "Damn wrong edge" and turned it around and placed my fingers on the hot sugar. Yeah, great fun. The gingerbread went flying, and I headed to the sink cursing. Put me off making gingerbread houses for a while.

But, having learned my lesson I decided this was the year. Besides the girls were harassing me to make one. I wanted to make a lighthouse. I didn't have patterns but I'm known for doing stuff like this just making it up as I go.
After the hot sugar assembly, it looked like this:

Yes, a bit lopsided I admit... like I said I winged it ;o)
But now I got to start the fun bit!
And several sugar filled hours later, TA-DAA!

This particular lighthouse is habited by the Moomin family. Moomintrolls are Finnish storybook characters (the books are by Tove Jansson and have been translated to English as well. This one is my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374453039/qid=1133371320/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9892744-1261607?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 ) That's Moomintroll on the pier, with Moominmamma and Moominpappa by the lighthouse. So who is that hiding behind the Christmas tree? That is the Groke. She is so cold that ground freezes where ever she soundlessly moves . Maybe she thinks the lighthouse light will make her warm?

I heard from the insurance company today, they'll pay to have my oven fixed. About time too...

It arrived!

The long awaited box from Auntie Tawny! Good mail day :o)
I'm not kidding you when I say the girls have been asking for this box for the past 6 months... it took Uncle Mark a few months to find it under his desk LOL!

What was in it? I got some scrapping magazines and good books, and the girls were pampered silly with American Girl doll goodies.
This is Niina checking out all the fancy new clothes for her Angelina Ballerina doll, she also got a cute cute cute pram with a baby mouse. Can't believe I forgot to take a photo.

And Saara got Coconut the dog for her doll. She also got the funniest cat Halloween costume for the dog.

Why me? Or woe is me??

Before I start woeing I'll share some of my photo challenge pics that I didn't get up this weekend. As you can see we got snow, it was so pretty (I say was because as of this morning it has turned to slush...) .
I turned on the Christmas lights, took my camera out and tried some shots without a tripod. I'm really pleased at how they came out. I love this camera!
Last year I couldn't get decent shots of my lights at all. I'll be having so much fun this Christmas... just wait till I get my tree up!


Then, onto something a touch sillier, yet everyday. The biggest dairy in Finland is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. They asked several Finnish artists to dress up the milk cartons for the celebrations, the catch was it had to feature a cow.

These two are my personal favorites :o) I have to say, it makes picking milk at the grocery store more fun as you decide if you really want the 0% as the 1% has a funkier picture on it...

OK, so the woe part... MY OVEN BROKE! Sharyn, it must be contagious...did your late oven sneeze this way?? My oven has a fan that keeps the temp just right and at the same time cools the electronics. It satrted making this infernal noise the other week...then it died. Now it'll work for about 15 mintes before shutting down, the oven works OK, though...but I can't really use it as I might fry the electronics. So I had the repairman come over this morning ($112) to tell me that the fan ($390) is busted and that they have to order the part. Yeah...ka-ching...sigh.
This is the part where I am so grateful for our excellent insurance. I called them. Scanned in papers, filled out a form, emailed and now am waiting....impatiently. I want to know whether they'll pay to get it fixed (the oven is only 6 years old!!!) or if they'll pay for a new one. To my surprise they'll cover the guy's visit this morning whatever they decide. Cool. So I will have a working oven for just $147, that's what I have to cover... now the million dollar question of course is when. Because this is not a good time for me to be with out a oven!!!

And now my 4 year old is sick. The same damned cold I had last week. And let me tell you... this one creates gunk up the yazoo! I went through a pack of 100 double ply tissues just by myself! Keep your fingers crossed the other one doesn't catch this ok? They are performing dances to us at the school this friday...

What else, my to-do list isn't getting any shorter... oh no...longer by the day! I should be mailing out my cheaper rate packages to the US by this Thursday. Maaann.... Tawny dear.. still working on your calendar, hey only 6 more months to go :oP And the cute little something I made for my dear niece needs a clasp I can only get downtown... have a secret santa gift to finish...this of course is all stuff I should have done last week, but I was sick on the couch.

Enough of my moaning... instead I'll show you some beautiful photos from yesterday's walk. And I have to brag, I didn't touch up these photos at all! I am so pleased with the light on these.