by Marja-Leena 
by Marja-Leena white and tan
More from Christmas Day – surprisingly lovely and gentle colours and textures
by Marja-Leena Christmas Day walk
I’ve been absorbed with some intense work on a project this week which I completed yesterday. As I now catch up posting holiday photos, I also look back to those relaxing days of our recent Christmas trip and the wonderful walks in the hills around daughter’s home. Aren’t photos a wonderful way to remember the peace and beauty of nature and good times with family?
It’s now Twelfth Day. Odd that it’s not mentioned much here in Canada, yet it’s a public holiday in some countries like Finland. Looking back on past twelth day posts, I see that in 2009 we had a deluge, as we’ve been having here after almost a week of sunny frosty days. Tonight we will take down our tree as is our tradition, except when we had visitors one year. To me, it’s always sad to put away the extra light and colour at this dark time of year, so for a bit longer we do leave the front door wreath up and the little white lights on the Japanese maple that brightens the way up our front steps. Plus all the red candles here and there…
by Marja-Leena leaves in ice
Wandering around with camera in hand
in daughter’s yard on a sunny Christmas Day morning,
astonished by these beauties captured in ice….
by Marja-Leena walk in the country Dec.24th
As I wrote last week, we’d travelled to the Thompson River region northeast of us to spend Christmas at the home of one of our daughters. It is such different country from the southwest coast, with its own kind of beauty, as every place does. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve day, while the younger ones were preparing the feast to come, my husband and I headed out for a walk in the area. Hope you enjoy these photos that aim to capture the character of this region, and as you can see, without much snow cover down here in the valley.
You may also recall the photos of our visit there last summer.
by Marja-Leena first sunset
The first sunset of 2011, captured at 4:48 pm. from our back deck. Is this an auspicious sign or what?! Frosty cold clear weather continues….
By the way, since I did not have a chance to mention it earlier, may I point you to the last post of qarrtsiluni’s issue The Crowd which features my monotype by that name. Did you see my other one, a drypoint, that was published earlier? It was interesting for me to revisit that older series of prints when the call for entries came. Thanks again to Beth and Dave for choosing them and for their fantastic editorial work on this online magazine. If you don’t already know of it, do visit!
by Marja-Leena New Year’s Eve morn
Oh, what a glorious morning on this last day of 2010! Sunny bright days and crisp frosty nights that are a close second best to having a white Christmas.
Frost flowers on the glass instead of roses in the garden. Sunrise so late, so far to the southeast, but soon to begin its move towards the northeast.
All’s well here as the year comes to a close. Wishing all of you a Happy, Healthy and Creative New Year 2011! Hyvää Uutta Vuotta!
by Marja-Leena lights of Christmas Eve
As I’ve written before, 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. This year at our eldest daughter’s place, we missed having some bright-eyed and excited little children to add to the excitement. Richard, with a nod to the Finnish tradition, made a delicious meal of ham and vegetables.
Another family tradition of ours is to go out afterwards to see a local park’s Christmas lights while awaiting Santa. This time it was the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops for its Wildlights and a jolly miniature train ride. It was too dark to see the wild animals that are rehabilitated there but we enjoyed the light displays, glad for the mild dry evening (while Vancouver was having a terrific rainstorm).
Back at the house, we enjoyed Christmas songs by Anita and Erika to the accompaniment of the guitar by Erika. We exchanged and opened gifts then enjoyed my contribution of a trifle for dessert, made with my own green tomato mincemeat.
How do you usually celebrate Christmas Eve? I remember one Eve years ago before we had a family which we had spent with friends then living in Fort Nelson in northeast BC. We joined them for a beautiful midnight Mass at their church on a very crisp and cold night with the stars bright in the sky.
by Marja-Leena Winter Story and Game 2010
I’m very late pointing you to our now ten year old granddaughter Lael’s Winter Story 2010, a family holiday tradition since 2003.
Her five year old sister Niamh also presents Foggy Windows – a Winter Game.
Can you tell how proud we are of our creative family? If you’ve not seen the earlier stories, please do check them out on the blog. Enjoy!
by Marja-Leena Christmas journey
We have been away for a few days, spending Christmas with our eldest daughter Anita and partner Richard at their home in the countryside east of Kamloops. We had a wonderful time, thanks to their generous hospitality, lovely holiday decorations and fantastic food by chef Richard!
We’ve taken over a hundred photos which I’ve just been downloading. For now I’ll just show a few from the 4 to 5 hour journey up there along the magestic Coquihalla Highway over the mountains, with the highest summit at about 1250 metres (4100 feet). While Vancouver and the Fraser Valley stayed green and wet, as we climbed higher and higher we reached heavy snow levels and falling snow – so beautiful! It was hard to take good photos from a moving car and with no places to stop with the high snowbanks.
Driving at times was quite treacherous with too many drivers going too fast for the conditions. The last photo shows the amazing panorama on the north side heading down to the Merritt Valley with less snow on the road but more black ice. We saw many cars and even semi-trailer trucks off the road. Anyway, we made it safely there and back again.
The Thompson River valley and Kamloops area did not have a lot of snow left from earlier snowfalls, though it was enough to call it a White Christmas compared to Vancouver. However it was a good thing we left the cross country skis and toboggan at home and I never did get to try out Anita’s snowshoes.
I’ll try to post more photos over the next few days. I hope you have all had a great Christmas and that you are enjoying these last days of the year.