Right..this 'issue' will need its own place here...feel free to join to my 'trip' through 'rose tinted glasses'...
..and tell what you did/do traditionally in Christmas..
Well..of course the preparations were started days if not weeks before the 'X' day..baking etc..
The traditional Finnish table centre piece of big Gammon my mother usually put into oven night before Xmas eve and it was slowly cooking all night... MMMMMMM...the loooooovely smell it created.
In the morning we kids (that's me and my sister) would get up 6. 55 am(no need for alarm to get up that morning..)...yes..it was that exact as kids programs started in TV at 7am...2 hours solid programming just for kids...no boring repeats in those days, but all 'new' and not seen, programs from different countries and all had festive feel to them
We were kept quiet'ish while glued on front of TV
While enjoying the programs we would nibble those huge 'horrid' red 'Christmas apples that had very grainy and floury flesh..but still, in some ways they were nice....and satsumas....and oranges.. Dad used to buy whole big wooden 'grate' of mix 'seasonal (imported) fruit...oh and breaking nuts too...mess everywhere on floors..we would sit on floor as you could get closer to telly...
While we were kept busy...mum would start her baking marathon...'pig' out of oven, now cooked, would give room for 100's of little 'breads' that mum would make (to last several days) and after than some sweet pastries.
Dad in mean while would get the tree into cool part of the house to 'warm up' before it was being fitted into its 'shoe'.
After TV there was short radio play to listen at 9am..half'n hour of that and then we kids would decorate the tree...first climb 'on top cupboard' (dangerous task for todays standards...H&S would not be pleased
)...to dig out the box of decorations, adventure on its own as you would not remember all the things there from previous year. Dad would get lights up first and then 'we' would do all shiny, pretty stuff..
By then it would be mid day...ohhh...looooooooong way to go. We would propably go outside for couple of hours to play in the snow, but true reason was (though we didn't 'see' it then) to give some space for mum and dad to get 'stuff' done.
After 'bit' of play and when the mittens would be wet and stiff from cold..we would finally come in and it was time for Xmas sauna...
The building were we lived (flats) had kind of 'communal' sauna..one for women and one for men..so you would meet all friends again (who you just played with) in sauna (well..the girls that is)..all neighbours were there (of all ages) and we all sit there chatting away...afterwards in cooling area we would have our small bottles of 'pop'..NICE! (those days you didn't drink gassy drinks every day..)...perhaps somebody had some chockies with them too...
Then back home and to wait until mum got her shift finished and got into sauna too.....it felt like veeeery looooong wait.
By now it was late afternoon... whole family was clean, dressed up, house decorated, food cooked, I was feeling great and very excited...it was almost 'Santa time'. Before that.... FOOOOOOD! ...dinner on table and time to stuff the tummy
After dinner parents would have their drinks and early years...mum would 'just nip to cellar to fetch something.....' and she would usually miss the Santa's visit...but when we got bit older...and viser... whole family would 'try to kill the time' until.....KNOCK...KNOCK..KNOCK...always three knocks (santa propably didn't know doorbells did exist)...and dad would go and open the door.... EEEEEK!....so exiting and soo scary in same time (after all we did know it was somebody pretending to be santa but we would not know who... or that's what we thought...OF COURSE it was Santa!!!).
The big man with funny mask and beard on would sit on the 'best seat' on the house...we kids would sing particular song for him to invite him amongst us...then some chatting with the old man..going through the 'naughty or nice' list...listen the elves 'report' of us...and the if we've been nice, Santa would fetch his sack of pressies from out side....his sledge was always parked on the car park behind the corner of the building..we could not see that part from our window...
Once Santa had gone through his pressies and everybody had had theirs....we would do another bit of singing and wish him on his way...dad would give santa a drink to keep him warm through his travels to next place...some years I suspect Santa would have been given this 'necessary medicine' quite few places already, it was how he was talking that was the give away...
THEN would the FUN really START
Everybody would rip their papers open and we would spend evening going through the pressies again and again..playing etc.. Food was kept on table all evening and we would carry on nibbling until unlimited bed time.
Mum would be the last one up and clear it all away....
Christmas day would be different altogether...we would go and see relations/friends or they would visit us..food was usually just warm up affair..bit like Boxing day over here.
So...that was my memories and usually repeated in more and less same manner and time scale year after year..some of it still does in carry on in my home and when we get together again...Mum still disappear somewhere ...and Santa happen to visit and she miss it all AGAIN!
Happy Christmas everybody....ho,ho, ho!
