Aprés Christmas comes lots of things...
... of which one is New Year. But that's a later blog post.
Our Christmas was okay. Much more a 'real holiday' that last time we were in Ostrobothnia for Christmas. This time, instead of driving around in the car visiting various people, we got to spend quite a lot of time at Micke's mother's apartment. I actually managed to forget being stressed out over things. Some of the time. Most of the time.
We visited relatives, and Micke's friend Joonas' family. I borrowed the car and drove to Kronoby to visit Sally and her family. Joonas cooked spicy meatballs when we visited, and even though he had totally forgot about my allergies it was okay. We played some games on their christmas present "Kinect" for Xbox. That was amusing, and what made it really funny was that the fact that the guys sweated like pigs when playing. It's a VERY athletic game console. It makes you exercise. A lot. While the guys were browsing through the Kinect-games on Xbox live, I talked with Joonas' mom and sister. They're very much into crafting (Sofia is mostly into scrap-booking, and her mom wants to start doing jewelry), and I got to browse through some of the crafting magazines they had. That was both fun and informative.
I also joined Sally's family for dinner, her mom had made these huge meat-pies that were really good. We talked, and the whole time while I was there Sally's cats totally boycotted me. They thought I had come to take them away. Again. That's the thank you get from helping your friend get her 2 cats to the train. They consider you to be the plague, and to be avoided at all costs.
We (that is, me and Micke) only ate out once, and it was REALLY nice of the people working in the kitchen at "O'Leary's" (it's a restaurant/bar with sports & baseball theme...) to make me paprika/chili-free dinner when I asked. My stomach was so pleased about that. It wants us to visit again.
*sigh* My stomach wants me to eat bland chicken pasta with lots of olive oil. Seriously, my stomach ain't the sharpest tool in the shed... Not that my brain is either, but at least it has the sense to frown at the stomach...
Oh, and it snowed. Like, it snowed a lot! During that week we must have had almost a meter of snow. And it was cold too: at most we had -27 degrees Celsius (-16.6 degrees Fahrenheit if you like that better). People complained about the cold. A lot. And on how the trains and people driving cars had problems because of it.
While driving, it snowed so much, it was either a complete whiteout because of the snow, or because your glasses got so much condensation on them (because of your own breathing).
Me, I just thought it was okay. I got to use my knitted buff on top of my regular scarf. And used a double pair of knitted gloves. As well as boots that went up to under my knees.
Anyway, Christmas came and went, and what I got for Christmas can be placed into two categories: chocolate and other stuff.
I got a really elegant and simple pendant from Mimi, we got wine from Sally, and I got two earrings from Micke (of which I had chosen the color myself...). Of all the chocolate, I think by now Micke has eaten about ... half of it already.
He started on the train back home. He got a stomach ache.
And he made me eat some as well. I got a stomach ache too. And I can safely say, that I've seen enough pralines now to last me until New Year.
To end this post, I'll share with you some pictures of snow and trains.
Our Christmas was okay. Much more a 'real holiday' that last time we were in Ostrobothnia for Christmas. This time, instead of driving around in the car visiting various people, we got to spend quite a lot of time at Micke's mother's apartment. I actually managed to forget being stressed out over things. Some of the time. Most of the time.
We visited relatives, and Micke's friend Joonas' family. I borrowed the car and drove to Kronoby to visit Sally and her family. Joonas cooked spicy meatballs when we visited, and even though he had totally forgot about my allergies it was okay. We played some games on their christmas present "Kinect" for Xbox. That was amusing, and what made it really funny was that the fact that the guys sweated like pigs when playing. It's a VERY athletic game console. It makes you exercise. A lot. While the guys were browsing through the Kinect-games on Xbox live, I talked with Joonas' mom and sister. They're very much into crafting (Sofia is mostly into scrap-booking, and her mom wants to start doing jewelry), and I got to browse through some of the crafting magazines they had. That was both fun and informative.
I also joined Sally's family for dinner, her mom had made these huge meat-pies that were really good. We talked, and the whole time while I was there Sally's cats totally boycotted me. They thought I had come to take them away. Again. That's the thank you get from helping your friend get her 2 cats to the train. They consider you to be the plague, and to be avoided at all costs.
We (that is, me and Micke) only ate out once, and it was REALLY nice of the people working in the kitchen at "O'Leary's" (it's a restaurant/bar with sports & baseball theme...) to make me paprika/chili-free dinner when I asked. My stomach was so pleased about that. It wants us to visit again.
*sigh* My stomach wants me to eat bland chicken pasta with lots of olive oil. Seriously, my stomach ain't the sharpest tool in the shed... Not that my brain is either, but at least it has the sense to frown at the stomach...
Oh, and it snowed. Like, it snowed a lot! During that week we must have had almost a meter of snow. And it was cold too: at most we had -27 degrees Celsius (-16.6 degrees Fahrenheit if you like that better). People complained about the cold. A lot. And on how the trains and people driving cars had problems because of it.
While driving, it snowed so much, it was either a complete whiteout because of the snow, or because your glasses got so much condensation on them (because of your own breathing).
Me, I just thought it was okay. I got to use my knitted buff on top of my regular scarf. And used a double pair of knitted gloves. As well as boots that went up to under my knees.
Anyway, Christmas came and went, and what I got for Christmas can be placed into two categories: chocolate and other stuff.
I got a really elegant and simple pendant from Mimi, we got wine from Sally, and I got two earrings from Micke (of which I had chosen the color myself...). Of all the chocolate, I think by now Micke has eaten about ... half of it already.
*sigh*
He started on the train back home. He got a stomach ache.
*double sigh*
And he made me eat some as well. I got a stomach ache too. And I can safely say, that I've seen enough pralines now to last me until New Year.
To end this post, I'll share with you some pictures of snow and trains.
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| Snow over Aspegren's garden, Jakobstad. |
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| Bennäs train station. |
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| 2 minutes early?! Is this a late Christmas present, or only our train back to Turku? |
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| When this is all you have to stare at for 5 hours, you're bound to get pretty bored. No wonder we thought the chocolate was a good idea... |
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| When in doubt/bored, use your phone to check forums/blog posts. |
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| Every seat filled, all the space above crammed with luggage. The people who hadn't bought tickets beforehand, they had to stand. You try standing for 5 hours, and see how your Christmas spirit survives that. |
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| Back in Turku, where all the snow drifts were as tall as Micke! |
If I had known you were visiting the Lönnbäck's I would have sent them my best :) Hope you have a great new year's eve!
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