Boxing Day walk
Reminisces…
two lovely days with dear friends
hours of chatting, eating, laughing
long walks in our neighbourhood
where they used to live
before moving away
by Marja-Leena
by Marja-Leena Happy Boxing Day
Reflections at the window of daughter’s apartment Christmas Day evening, 2007
Christmas Eve day was sunny, and the evening frosty with a bright moon. We had our family and a friend here, for feasting, singing and watching out for Santa, then opening presents. A merry and warm Christmas! Just missing one daughter and partner but had several Skype chats and iChats with her.
Christmas Day was almost a white one when it started to snow in the afternoon as we headed over to one daughter’s place for a nice meal and play with the granddaughters. The snowfall was beautiful to watch, though very wet on the ground. Our area, closer to sea level had no snow by the time we returned home.
Today is Boxing Day, or in some European countries St. Stephen’s Day, or Tapanipäivä in Finland – another day off work for some of us folks. Right now, we’re eagerly awaiting our good friends, coming here for a short stay. We usually get together on New Year’s Eve, but not this year. We will still have fun together.
Happy Boxing Day! Hauskaa Tapanipäivää!
by Marja-Leena winter story 2007
Our granddaughter Lael’s annual Winter Story has become her family’s traditional Christmas greeting to all their family and friends. As always, Lael (now 7 years) does the delightful drawings and tells the story. Her father creates them into an animation. I’m so proud to share this year’s story here. Stay with it and listen to Lael sing at the end. Check out the past winter stories as well. Enjoy!
by Marja-Leena good tidings
The countdown is quickening,
the house is decorated and clean (almost),
the baking nearly done
except for the plum tarts*
(the filling is made, the dough is chilling)
need to make the spiced red cabbage,
the cranberry sauce
the mincemeat trifle.
Reading blogs during breaks,
I love dreaming of sugar plums
and thinking about dasher and dancer*
and the Finnish Forest Reindeer
and how they became Santa’s one day.
Oh, and it’s Mr.Grinch’s 50th, as Peter also noted*.
Our daughters are excited by snow (wish we had some!)
instead I look at these snowflakes.
Erika is enjoying this merry time of year
and Anita made gorgeous pine cone decorations!
Now it’s time to wish my dear readers
Happy Christmas, Hauskaa Joulua, Frohe Weihnachten,
Joyeux Noël, Happy Holidays, a blessed Midwinter,
and mustn’t forget Peace on Earth!
Love and light, peace and joy,
Abundant inspiration and creativity!
(Whew, that’s a lot of wishes, take your pick!)
And…thank you all for visiting!
*expired links have been removed
by Marja-Leena to light
December 20th, 2007 at 3:56 pm, usually dark on rainy days.
I was awake and wandering in the wee hours yesterday morning and noticed an almost full moon, the cold moon, lighting up the outdoors and streaming in through the unshaded windows on the west side. Stars sparkled. Frost sparkled. All looked magical after another long spell of dark dreary rainy nights, and days. The day came and was mostly clear and sunny, uplifting spirits, and inviting us out for a walk. A good thing, for the rains are back today and it promises to be a rainy green Christmas again.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:12 pm. The mountain tops look like they are on fire, while below we are in darkness. A superb solstice sign.
Tonight or very early tomorrow, here on the west coast of North America, it’s the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. Now we can look forward to lengthening days, a slow easing of the winter darkness. Several communities in Vancouver celebrate with a annual winter solstice lantern festival, a nod to the ancient pagan tradition of Yule, Yulefest, Jul, Jól, Joulu and other namings.
If you are in a reasonable time zone, you can even watch the webcast of the solstice sunrise at Newgrange in Ireland! I tried last night, but could not get connected. Maybe I’ll have better luck tonight if I’m up late enough.
I raise a glass of glögg to all of you, dear readers, as we look forward to light. Happy solstice!
by Marja-Leena Looking back: Joulupukki
Isn’t it fascinating how the Santa Claus figure has evolved in different countries? In Finland, the jolly fellow is called ‘Joulupukki’ and his home is on Korvatunturi Mountain, in Finnish Lapland. (Some links have since died, sorry.)
Recently, I read a fascinating article concerning the possible source of the name Joulupukki, which means literally ‘Jule goat’. Eventually he evolved into the American style Santa, who, surprise! was designed by the son of Finnish emigrant, Haddon Sudblom. Enjoy the reads, and have fun getting ready for Christmas!
UPDATE Dec.23rd, 2007 – Just read this in our weekend paper: Never mind the North Pole: Santa’s in Lapland, by Polish student Grzegorz Wieclaw.
by Marja-Leena Range Creek Canyon art
It’s been awhile since I wrote about rock art…
Many of us know about the fantastic collections of native rock art in Utah, USA. The quality and quantity of beautiful rock art in the Range Creek Canyon of Utah first sparked my interest when I read an article in the August 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine. It’s an interesting story…
For 50 years Utah cattle rancher Waldo Wilcox protected an astounding collection of artifacts left by the prehistoric Fremont culture–including countless panels of rock art. “The Indian stuff? My father always said to leave it alone,” he says. Which he did–and more. By gating the road to his property near the mouth of Range Creek Canyon, he blocked access to tens of thousands of acres of unspoiled backcountry where the Fremont had farmed, hunted game, and gathered wild plants from about A.D. 400 until their culture mysteriously disappeared almost a thousand years later. Ready to retire, Wilcox sold his land in 2001. The state of Utah, its current owner, is now responsible for managing the future of this priceless legacy.
Check out the amazing examples of work in the photo gallery.
Fremont petroglyphs at McKee Springs, Utah. Photograph by Ira Block, National Geographic
Today, I came across an update on the current situation in Range Creek Canyon in an article and excellent video at Remote Central, an archaeology and anthropology blog by Tim Jones that I’ve been following for some time.
By the way, there’s another interesting article in Tim’s blog on a subject I’ve written about several times: Fungus Once Again Threatens Lascaux Cave Paintings.
by Marja-Leena Looking back: Jule favourites
Deep in the archives of three years ago is this favourite Christmas season post of mine and reposted here almost fully:
My favourite things about Christmas are the things that appeal to the romantic and the child in me. I love the visual delights of little white lights, red candles, evergreens, snow, red berries, pine cones and red folk embroidery on linens. I love exquisitely illustrated childrens’ books like Jan Brett’s The Wild Christmas Reindeer, something I bought just for myself to enjoy every Christmas.
I love Christmas music, especially when sung by young voices like Heintje (O Tannenbaum), romantic voices from the 40’s and 50’s like Doris Day, Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby (I Dream of a White Christmas), or powerful operatic voices.
Virtual Finland’s Christmas* appeals to the romantic and the child. Visit Santa or “Joulupukki” in his gorgeous clothes, with his elves and reindeer in Lapland (that’s where Santa lives, didn’t you know?). Look at the lovely cards from Christmases past and recipes for traditional Finnish Christmas foods. I also love these little Finnish folk poems* about the little animals in the wintry woods (click on ‘lorupiha’ then each creature, in Finnish only but sounds interesting).
We are busy preparing the house, the decorations, the gifts, and all the favourite foods for our family Christmas of blended traditions. Christmas Eve is our big night, a tradition with both the Finns and the Germans, with a lovely meal, carols around the piano, and then Santa’s visit, so carefully planned to happen out of sight of little children. Oh, such excitement! Happy childhood memories evoked by all the sights, sounds and tastes and watching the shining happy eyes of another generation (a grandchild) make Christmas special for me.
What can I add this year? Two things come to mind. One is another grandchild now 2, who with her 7-year old sister makes up a lively happy pair through whose eyes we can experience the awe and the joy of this season. Otherwise we might be a bit jaded by it all now, hmm?
Secondly, I must mention a beautiful music CD, already quite old, from our modest collection: Vienna Noel with Placido Domingo, Sissel Kyrkjebo and Charles Aznavour. The Norwegian Sissel is absolutely divine and angelic, fitting beautifully with the equally great male singers. My heart soars at every listening!
If I were in Europe, I’d love to go to the traditional Christmas Markets. On one of his business trips many year ago, my husband was in Austria before Christmas. He brought back many lovely handmade tree ornaments that we treasure. I learned that Helsinki has a Christmas Market too. This could be another favourite!
What are your favourite things this time of year, dear readers? I hope you take great pleasure in them as you prepare for the holidays!
UPDATE Dec.23, 2007: Just read this in our weekend newspaper, A land of Christmas: “For hundreds of years, the towns of Germany have celebrated the yuletide season with markets filled with the produce of local artisans…” Exactly what I dream of visiting!
UPDATE Dec.3, 2013: Almost six years later, oh nine for that earlier linked post, I am saddened by the many dead links, some marked * and removed.
by Marja-Leena Looking back: Lucia’s Day
I am finding that one of the downsides of being a blogger for more than two or three years is that I feel that more and more I begin to repeat myself. Yet, readers come and go though there are many long time loyal readers that I treasure. Am I chatting with the new readers, or with the longtime ones? Both, of course. Well, it is my blog and a kind of diary, and it is a special time of year for me when I enjoy rereading my past December posts, dug up out of the ever larger archives.
With today’s slightly tired and jaded eyes, I look back on that first year of blogging and feel again that excitement of discovering new information on the net and the joy of connections with new blog friends. I’m going to link to some of my old favourites on their anniversary dates with the hope that new readers will enjoy them for the first time, and longtime readers will not be too bored. After all, this is the season of holiday traditions and this has become a tradition for me, as is sharing the joys. (However, the nature of this medium being what it is, some older links may be dead.)
Lucia by Swedish painter Carl Larsson, 1908 – from wikipedia
Today is Lucia’s Day, or the Festival of Lights. Two years ago, I wrote in part:
Lucia is “the only saint celebrated by the Lutheran Swedes, Finns, Danes, and Norwegians, in celebrations that retain many pre-Christian elements of a midwinter light festival.” “Her feast day in the West is December 13, by the unreformed Julian calendar the longest night of the year”. Lucia also means light, so this is a festival of lights in the dark northern countries. I find it fascinating how the many religious and pagan traditions meld and transform over time into our modern day celebrations.
Last year’s post includes some interesting links to other bloggers, especially Dave’s unique view of the saint of light.
Happy Santa Lucia Day! Now, back to writing a few more Christmas letters. The overseas ones are finally on their way. I’m enjoying reading the ones arriving daily now.
ADDENDUM 3:50 pm: Lucy of Box Elder has written a wonderful and personally significant Nocturne upon St Lucy’s Day – a highly recommended read!
by Marja-Leena busy winter days
– a weekend trip to Vancouver Island with our daughters and grand-daughters
– a happy meeting of friends on the ferry, we of three generations each
– a lovely memorial/celebration of the life of my dear uncle
– the tears of loss and the laughter of happy memories triggered by the slide show
– the pleasure of connecting again with extended family
– feeling the weight of one day becoming the matriarch of my mother’s large clan, being the eldest cousin
– staying in my late mother-in-law’s house
– surprised by snow Sunday morning, turning Mutti’s garden into an enchanted forest (was she beneath that tree smiling at us?)
– a quick visit with friends on Sunday, to see the progress on their house construction
– printing family photos from the service to slip into the Christmas letters I’m writing
– trying to catch up with emails and blog reading and writing
– my thoughts on this season are nicely captured by Amy on short days, long nights