Our first Finnish Christmas was a success. We managed to fulfill most of the requirements of the holiday: plum tarts and rice porridge and later ham on Christmas eve, gifts exchanged that night, but none of the typical casseroles yet. And then Christmas day is a quiet stay-at-home day here and we had glögi and gingerbread. On the 26th, we walked to a wonderful circus right in the neighborhood.
We also made it to an outdoor Christmas market where Kaliecia got herself a bear (karhu) bonnet, which came in handy as it was windy and rainy many of the days the girls were here. I read today that this was one of the darkest Decembers in Helsinki with only 20 hours of sunlight the whole month! The worst was 6 hours - imagine that. It compounded the girls' jet lag to have such dark afternoons, and they never fully adjusted. But the days are growing a few minutes longer each day this far north, and we had brilliant sunshine today and more on tap for tomorrow.
Here are the girls in Senate Square and Kaliecia took an interesting shot of some balconey supports on our way to the Design Museum in Helsinki. We also visited the National Gallery to see some compelling Finnish art. Claire and I went to a Moliere play in Finnish at the National Theatre, which is a spectacular venue. She filled me in on the story line.
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