It's 23rd December, tomorrow is already Christmas Eve!! Time has gone so fast and I've been busy... Especially the last month before Christmas break from university was pretty crazy. I had a few presentations and assignments to make and now I still have one assignment left and reading to exams... Yay. But tomorrow is Christmas, yaaaay! My favourite holiday of the year. For me it is about family time, relaxing, peace and quiet and of course, it is a time to celebrate the birth of the Christ. This Christmas I'm spending in England with my boyfriend and in January we'll go to Finland to see my family. We don't have a lot of Christmas decorations, less than I would like to have (I love Christmas things, hehehe) but we do have a pretty little Christmas tree which I just carried to living room from the bath tub (it had some problems with keeping the water in the soil rather than letting it drop on the floor...) and we have candles, of course, and a the red Christmas flower. And food. Let's not forget that. I just made gingerbread yesterday, which also disappeared already, but tomorrow I will make new fresh ones! In this post I was thinking of talking about preparing for Christmas. There are loads of things most people do before Christmas, it's kinda weird as it is just a few days but still every year people put up decorations and spend time and money for gifts and other stuff.
Christmas last year from Finland. I love that snow!!! In England we don't have snow at all...
What I have learned from my mum is that the whole house "needs" to be cleaned for Christmas. This is what I did today and I can tell my lower back is not thanking me for it right now. But why do we clean the house thoroughly for a few days, even if there were no guests coming (except Santa of course). What I think is the reason, because I am Christian, we clean the house to prepare it to be at its best as it is the greatest celebration for our Saviour who was brought to the world at this time. And it is also nice and relaxing to be in a clean and tidy house. For the same reason we put up decorations. To make the house look festive, cosy and fit for the Christ's birthday. Other people might have different reasons to do these (or not to do anything) but for me these are the reasons why I have done everything. Christmas is a birthday celebration which I like to spend with family and loved ones, eating food, chilling, listening to Christmas songs and enjoying the feeling of peace and love that is around.
Although, I can't say it's just peace and quiet at Christmas and before it, it is also quite stressful at times. At my parents' home mum spends a lot of time cooking, first rice porridge in the morning and later proper big dinner. That takes some time... She also puts up all the decorations at the beginning of December, and when you have a home for six people there is a bit of work to do (even tho our house is not big). And the most difficult part, buying gifts. When you get older it gets harder and harder to buy gifts for your siblings and parents as they already have everything! Or at least everything you can fit to your budget... Then it's time to get creative. In these things imagination is one of the best things you can have. I find it nearly impossible every year to buy a gift for my brother and dad, and when I ask what they would want I get an answer "a car"..... Okaaay. Anything else?? You are not making this any easier. And then it's again up to me to come up with something they hopefully could like. It is stressful!! Well, only if I let it be but to be honest, it is hard.
So yeah, I mentioned only a few things to do at Christmas and before it but I think those are the main things. Now our apartment is as clean as it can be and I have music and I hope the tree will not pour any water on the floor again... And I have half of my gift to my boyfriend, the other half got stuck somewhere which I'm not happy about but can't help it. Hopefully it comes before New Year. So with this post, merry Christmas to everyone again and happy New Year! See you in 2018! :)
Pentatonix - Mary Did You Know
