LastChristmas

My old green house has had lived again through one more happy, peaceful and traditional Yule season. I've received these beautiful houses as a gift from special people in past few years. They have led-candles inside so we don't need to worry for the fire when keeping them on my desk.

Well, if you ask me, I would like to keep on living my Yule time according to my Sámi tradition all the way to the moment when the bear turns to the other side when sleeping in its winter nest and hibernate. On that moment the winter's neck is broken which means one half is behind and the other half to go. If you need a date for that, as we need dates in the modern society, that's 19.1. And because modern society keeps on running I need to return back to life from my beloved Yule. That happens on the next bank day after Epiphany (6.1.) which is tomorrow. Oh no!

Landing on Yule season was extra exciting this year because on the begin of December the whole village, actually the whole cape & bay suffered from main drain break. That meant we had no running water for about 9 hours. That was not a problem. The problem arrived when they got it running. We needed to boil our water for 4 days. That was not a problem either. But what was running was sandy. That was a problem. That's why we took snow from the garden - it's sand-free- and boiled it until the sand stop running in the pipes. 

We used iron stove to melt the snow. It is not very energy efficient because then the heat goes to the snow instead of warming up the house so much. Still, it is more efficient to do it on wooden stove that by the electricity. Especially when talking about sustainability.

No matter what, our kitchen is always open, especially over Yule time. There's table for six -no, seven- always free. More seats and tables are available if needed. Instead of traditional "all-inclusive buffet" where all the foods and goods are set on the table and kept there over the holidays for everyone to eat and drink as much as desired, we provide "all-inclusive buffet" with self service. That means it all is place in the fridge & pantry and you help yourself out. Just for the hygiene reasons.

Also this year our Christmas menu meat was self hunt game. This year it was smoked roe deer hind leg. Only once we have bought ham because we had a bad hunting season on one autumn and didn't got enough for the Yule fest menu. It is interesting that traditionally we don't actually hunt. We "ask for" the game. Literally. We use the word "pyytää" (="ask for") instead of "metsästää" (=hunt). We ask for it from the god and the spirits of the forest; from the rulers of the woods. And we thank them for it by some rituals. 

This year my parents-in-law made two gingerbread houses with my kids. The small one is for my grandchild.

The bigger one with the horses is for YoungLady. It is a lovely tradition she always looks forward to do with her grandparents.

My own gluten free gingerbreads wish you all "pyere joulak" (= Merry Christmas) in my Sámi language. They were so tasty and desired that I hardly managed to take a picture of the final ones left in the jar!

Yule time has pass by in winter wonderland with arctic weather. Despite of the frost we outdoor daily. This pic was taken after 45 min walk in -24C. No, it is not cold. But just put me in +24C, then you see me crying and complaining like a baby.  Because it's too hot, far too hot for me! 

The fur around the hood of my new winter jacket (down) is recycled wild fox. You see it looks different than industrially grown. Take a look at FurHood-tutorial and Recycled FurHood to see the difference of wild and farmed fur. They both are fox despite of the different shade. Wild fur is not so homogenous and not so thick. This fox actually was hit by a car for about 25 years ago and the driver brought it to my father-in-law to be used for something. Part of the fox has been in my husbands winter overall hood until now when I moved it to my new down jacket. I bought a new jacket last spring but it turn out unpractical in outdoor use, it's pattern is awful and I feel like being strangled when going for a proper winter outdoor activity in it! I still have it but use it when I am just being a lady-like. :)

Autumn 2023 and winter 2023-2024 has been cold. Not extraordinary cold but constant cold. The snow arrived on 10.10. and didn't melt away even for a day. Past week it has been around -30. Before that around -20C. In a week I've seen two earth cracks. They are like mini earth quakes caused by the frozen and freezing ground. You don't see them so often.

Anyway, in this blog post you have seen even 3 pics of me and that is as rare as the winter earth cracks! Here I am with Nuka and Pii after today's walk in the woods. Notice the pullover under the jacket. I dyed the yarn and my mother-in-law knit the pullover for me as a birthday gift in November. 

I usually don't chat this long nor mention the statistics or explain anything. But now, bringing you with me to 2024 I'd like to tell that this year I will turn to 50 years and I love it! 

I also would like to tell that after I started this blog exactly 13 years ago I've written 1 316 posts for you. We have had 148 124 views in the blog which means for 148 124 times you or someone else have seen the blog. So, even you might feel you are alone, you are not, we are here together and I love you all! 

Also, in 13 years I've never participated any single Blogtober. And I won't. Why? Why not if I keep on blogging and you keep on reading? Simply because October is a very bad month to make such a commitment to post daily. Like is August, September, Novemebr and December. I do have shared two Advent Calendars with you (2011 and 2022) but just two. They all are bad months for such a commitment because our traditional life style demands so much time and attention for growing, gathering and hunting our own food. We are working those months like every modern person does to get money what you need in modern society. But the free time is full of actions the traditional life style demands.

Still, I keep on behaving and being nice and hope you do too because...

..."joulupukki" is coming again this year. Traditionally to us Santa Claus is not St. Nicholas. He is "joulupukki" which literally means "yule buck" and traditionally he is not any kind of nice man -opposite. But I must confess during getting older he has calm down and behaves well instead of wiping and stealing children.