Meet and Eat
While not quite done and dusted, as we have a few things for real Christmas at home, last night we spent several hours celebrating with my wife's family in the city.
Now that their older children are out of the house, they moved from a standalone to an apartment in the city and renovated it last year. It is an old building and they have done a really nice job of it - nice enough to get featured in a magazine, though it does come at a cost. My wife's brother-in-law is a specialist doctor in a field that has short supply and spends a lot of time on call and missing many events, including most Christmases. He almost missed this one too due to an emergency with a young child, but circumstances changed and he was able to come back from the hospital.
The main thing about Christmas is spending time with people you care about and the food.
Not necessarily in that order.
My sister-in-law likes to make an effort with the preparations and decorations and Christmas is always a very pretty event at their place, and the starters were decent - and alcohol-free.
It was an out of the bottle, sparkling, Glögi wine with fresh rosemary and lingonberries on ice and was a great way to start the festivities.
Then it was on to the main event.
It is traditional to have several fish dishes and since there isn't too much variety in Finland, there was a lot of salmon. Various smoked varieties and then some in cream to go atop the homemade saaristolaisleipä my mother-in-law made. They also smoked the fish themselves, which is common here.
Then the main, main event - the ham. Homemade mustard to boot. Christmas ham is always good and I don't understand why people don't eat it all year round, as it is pretty easy to cook (take a long time though) and is great! Perhaps having it only once a year is enough for most people though, especially since it normally gets eaten for several days in a row.
And for dessert this year, my wife made a gluten-free (the gingerbread was not gluten-free in most of them other than those who needed it), lactose-free, chocolate mousse, with cream and curd, which gave it both a sweet and tart flavor. It was pretty decent and after all of the other food, was enough to satisfy, especially since there is now (after I successfully introduced it last year) a cheese platter to come with the coffee.
I have no pictures of this though.
As said, the house is quite pretty, so I thought I would add a few random images that don't focus on the food, because there were other things too. Not that I know what most of that is, as Christmas is a time that I barely speak, as very few people speak (or want to speak) English with me, so I generally just enjoy sitting their quietly observing.
The Christmas tree is one taken from a local forest, which they paid for, but it was coming from one of the kid's friend's property. And, despite their very high ceilings, they have a roof-scraping star also.
And of course, there was the present time, which this year was a secret Santa for the adults, so we each got one gift, whilst the children got "more than one" and had fun opening them up and seeing what they got. Smallsteps wrote a wish list and got most of what she wanted, which was hair ties, woolen bunny socks with ears and a few dresses for preschool. She isn't overly demanding with the resents yet, and pretty much only asks for things that she feels she needs.
Her favorite was the socks. Mummi made them.
It lasted longer than it used to last, again something that was introduced when we hosted. Spreading things out a bit more, talking more (not me), spending more time relaxing. Then the night was over and we headed home.
But, we left a few presents under our tree for Smallsteps to open today, and she could choose to open one last night too. As said, she is not very demanding on the presents and she is always really happy with whatever she gets, whatever it is. I am guessing that this phase isn't going to last that long and in the next few years she will be asking more for what she wants, than what she needs.
So, that is Christmas for the time being and now I am going to take Smallsteps out sledding for a bit, before we come back and dig into our own ham. Hopefully everyone else is having overeating and spending time with the people they care about too.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Those socks are soooooooooooooo cute! ❤️❤️❤️
They are awesome. She has had some very cool ones over the years :)
The house no doubt is pretty nice and beautiful and I am sure smallsteps really enjoyed every of her time there.
Merry Christmas @tarazkp
It was a nice evening. Relaxing, since I didn't have to do much this time :D
Your in laws have a lovely home and I love the simplicity of the beautiful table setting, and the local Christmas tree, quite an unusual type with the branches sticking up that we don't see here.
I do sympathise you as quite a few of our next generation have married non Chinese. It's not that we can't speak English or are unfriendly or don't like them, it's just more natural for us to speak in our native language during family gatherings. So far there's no separations yet (touch wood) so I guess it's not that a big issue for them 😄
Have a great Christmas @tarazkp, best wishes and good health!!
As they get older, they start to drop, but these are quite young trees.
Yep. And I don't want to force people to include me either. Also, after 20 years, I should be better than I am at speaking Finnish :D
Hope you are well and enjoying the holidays!
There is nothing a man wouldn't do for his family and it must be a wonderful feeling to be a father who can provide that. I look forward to experiencing that one day. There is nothing more precious than having a healthy and sweet family, you are very blessed and I hope that will always be the case. The baby girl is so sweet and the dog looks so cute looking at the presents.🤗😁
I think the dog was just hoping for more snack presents. It got a couple :)
Have a great Christmas and hopefully you have the family you want one day too :)
Adorable kiddo😍
I agree
Normally I would say that all that food looks very tempting but I am already to full.So... nice dog.
you are lucky that she still doesn't want an iphone or a car...
It is a calm dog most of the time too. Unlike the one we had :)
Won't be long, I am sure.
Seems like a lovely christmas! Merry Christmas to you!
How was yours mate?
A bit rough as my wife's mum went to hospital as emergency, and she needed to be there most of the time. Everything is alright now, but was a bit unexpected and stressful. Well, we deal with our cards, as they come.
ham, cookies, sweets and sugar by lots, best recipe for getting fat
I am already fat :)
I think there's no Christmas without memories, foods , gifts exchange of good will messages.
Beautiful pictures you got here and I'm sure they make memories.
#Photographylovers
Nice and lovely photos! Should be a very heartwarming and enjoyable meal!
It was good. I tried not to eat too much... failed :)
Did you have a good one too?
Hehe it's always great to enjoy good food! Yeah I spent my Christmas with my family and got some rest too!
Merry Christmas dear, your smallstep Is so beautiful AND i know some day she went from maternal house too.
I love your fresh Rosemary wuau i love this planta, when i see i say i know this AND the food looks like delicious AND amazing.
Bless you to you AND your family.
Not for a while I hope!
Rosemary is great. Though normally here, they only use it with lamb - though there is a gin that uses it too now :)
Merry Christmas too!
I see you had a wonderful Christmas, I'm happy about it! The photos are beautiful 🤗 Here in Italy we don't have the tradition of ham even if I knew it and I think that from next year it will also be a tradition of this house heh heh! Merry Christmas again to all of you! 🤗🎊🎊☃️🎄
The ham is worth the time in the oven, as it is easy and delicious. Simple to feed many people! :D
Christmas is synonymous with magic and illusion. These holidays would not be the same if we didn't spend them all together, Merry Christmas, with your wife and little steps in a beautiful house and a delicious dinner.
This Christmas is a time to enjoy and value what really matters in life: love, peace, health, and having each other Mr Taraz
Hopefully you are having a great Christmas too!
Thank you Mr. Taraz, today I am enjoying Christmas with my family on this side of the world.
What a beautiful Christmas! I love those bunny socks and am glad SmallSteps had a good Christmas.
We do eat ham fairly often, usually a whole ham at Christmas and Easter, but I often buy ham steaks for various non occasion meals. Ham and cabbage, ham and scalloped potatoes, ham and eggs for breakfast or in Denver omelets, ham sandwiches... Your food pictures made me even more excited for our family Christmas/New Year celebration!
Oh, they eat a lot of ham here too, but not the Christmas ham kind of thing - I would like it at easter also, but they don't do that here.
If Smallsteps could eat one food - it would be bacon (with sushi a close second). :D
Have a great end to the year!
Hyvää joulua! I always appreciate when people take the extra time to make everything look so pretty. I see your sister-in-law likes the modern classic Scandinavian style and does it very well. How much do you understand when everyone speaks Finnish around you?
Yeah she does it well and there is a lot of Artek in that place!
(We are looking for secondhand barstools)
I understand about 30% - 50% if I know what they are talking about already. It is hard though and I struggle to concentrate.
and
Hyvää Joulua!
Happiness all around, happy to see your in laws are you are getting all together and enjoying this wonderful time of the year.
Nice pics. Cute socks and accompanied by a cute dog! The curve where the tree is looks like it’s made for a tree! 🎄😂
It is definitely made for a tree - it is a nice little nook without too though :)
Wow so lovely photos of celebration and it start with your cute little baby (daughter). Sir Taraz may I ask about your camera body name and lense of it? Though having good hand is most important to capture photos like you captured but I'm still curious about the camera details and setting of it if possible. Most of my DSLR photos in the sunshine get overexposed even when its in manual setting. I need to learn photography like you. Enjoy your celebration full on. Let us know your new year party and celebrations. ❤️💓💖
These were shot on an Olympus EM-1 MkIII - it is a decent mirrorless camera. THe lens was a 12-40mm, 2.8 :)
Ok thank you for the details ❤️
Merry Christmas 😊
Wishing you a happy marry Christmas to you and your family from Pakistan. I love to read your posts because your posts always meaningful. Goad to know you are enjoying this Christmas with your family and little angel looks so cute and his socks looks great. Your home is so beautiful and many people's dreams to buy this type of wonderful home. Thanks for sharing your happiness with us.
Looks like a great night of family exchanging stories and happy memories. Great that your brother in law wasn't called out in the end. Well wear on the new apartment for your parents in law too, they did a great job of it. It looks like a beautiful homily space.
Yeah, he was called, but was able to come back for the meal and was meant to head back in after two hours, but another doctor arrived. It is rare that he is able to be there the whole night, any night.
That's tough...
I used to be on call for my Engineering role too, 24 hours a day for a week every 4 weeks for over ten years. It's great to not be on call any more now I must admit.
Sorry for delayed response man, somehow missed it.
For me, this is the most important thing of such days except the religious interest. These days become a reason to see again the people you saw, perhaps one or more years ago.
Was just messaging some friends that I have known for 20 years and would see multiple times a week - that in 2023, we should meet at least once. Sad.
Happy Xmas Taraz!
And to you Mary :)
Thank you😁
Still salivating at the thought of ham and mustard. I’m here with @millycf1976 and the family in Jamaica. Even though I have just wolfed down a spread of curry goat, rice n peas, chicken, potato salad, plantain and god knows what else I think I could still have some ham and mustard 😁
There is always room for a bit of pig!
Merry Christmas to you both :)
And a fabulous new year to you all as well!
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Yeh sadly as they get older and more aware of the world they start wanting more and more stuff.
But family celebrations are always good :) looks like you had a nice one :D
Hope she enjoyed the sledding! Looks like y'all had an awesome Christmas table. The table settings were gorgeous. Hope it was a most excellent time together!