Merry xmas to everybody!
I’ve just shut my Outlook down & now look forward to a long weekend without work and some quiet time next week, even if I’m not on holidays. Everything is finally sorted – the fridge is full (I bought some salmon for tomorrow!), red wine supply is fine as well and even my xmas tree is now standing.
The tree was my biggest worry and the reason for a lot of chaos in the last days. If you ever think about spending xmas in Finland including a proper xmas tree, here’s some advice:
- Xmas trees are on sale at special “tree selling points” all over the city (and you can identify them if you look out for small fires burning at the side of the road) but you can also get them at Bauhaus for example. Most of those selling points only open the last weekend before xmas – but if you wait too long, choice is a bit limited (surprise, surprise!). I got mine on Wed but really plan to start treehunting already Sat/Sun next year…
- The normal finnish xmas tree is what we call “Fichte” in German (the one with sharp needles). Apparently you can also get “Nordmann-Tannen” (the ones with the soft needles), but those are quite rare – and at least I didn’t find any yet, but again maybe I get lucky next year
- Don’t rely on the fact that if you bought two sets of tree-lights, both will work. They won’t! And even the smart trick of testing them in the box first doesn’t ensure that they will work once they’re on the tree! (And then you end up like me with outdoor lights on an indoor tree as everything else was sold out now… Well, it could be worse, but again, better planning next year for sure!)
- And last but not least: Finns don’t know the German system of getting the decoration on the tree – they use gold/silver treads to tie the balls to the branches. I tried hunting for the S-hooks that we always used at home, but without any luck (I think it may have been easier getting a live reindeer than those hooks!). In the end I just made my own version out of some wire – which was nevertheless a lot faster than trying to get knots into those little threads without killing either your fingers or the tree…
As for the pictures, today you’ll get my tree compared to the one my parents have at home. (Well, my dad had years of experience!)
A German in Finland - 