No, I don't think we eat swastikas at Christmas...

Just a quick Christmas post today, with a special guest appearance from our lovely neighbour, Sweden!

In case you didn't know, Finland and Sweden have a sort of friendly rivalry going on all the time, about everything. There are kazillions of Finnish jokes where a Swede does or says something funny, and the Swedes honour us in a similar fashion. Nothing lifts a Finn's heart more than bettering Sweden at anything, be that an ice hockey match or making a Guinness world record in something totally mad. And we love to make fun of each others' traditions, all in a friendly manner. That's what it was all about the other day on SVT News, right? Right?

SVT Nyheter took a special interest in a Finnish Christmas delicacy, which I can't translate any better than "Christmas cakes". These are made of puff pastry dough, filled with plum jam, and folded usually into the shape of four-pointed stars. SVT Nyheter, however, thought the cakes resembled something much more sinister than stars. Om du kan svenska, kan du läsa här. If you can't read Swedish, I'll just tell you what the link says.

Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish widely-read newspaper (I think?) published a recipe for the Finnish Christmas cakes. Then SVT Nyheter called the paper asking them why they had pictures of cakes shaped like... swastikas. Really. A representative of the paper insisted that the cakes have long traditions and that any resemblance to swastikas didn't cross anybody's mind. I guess the SVT interviewer thought they were being extremely funny when they then asked if the recipe originated from the 1930s.

This is what a Christmas cake, or joulutorttu, looks like when it's folded into the star shape:

Okay, I'm not going to press any point on whether or not our Finnish Christmas cakes look like Nazi symbols. Neither am I going to guess whether or not SVT was being completely serious. I'm going to shrug, smile a little, and quietly say "Oh those funny Swedes". And when I'm having guests on Thursday, I'm going to buy some puff pastry dough and plum jam and fold up some cakes, because they are the most DELICIOUS Christmas thing ever and I truly feel sorry for anyone who can't enjoy them because they might possibly remotely bring to mind some symbol.

Have a tasty Christmas everyone, whatever you're preparing, and since Sweden insisted on bringing Germany into the discussion, for today's song I'm giving you O Tannenbaum by Nat King Cole (one of my many favourite singers whose voice absolutely melts my heart... What do you think about his German? I never studied it so I wouldn't know.)

What Christmas means to me

So, from the fact that I'm prepared to do 24 blog posts devoted to Christmas, you can probably decipher that I'm a pretty big Christmas junkie. Every year, I wait anxiously for the day that I can start playing Christmas music without other people rolling their eyes and shouting "NOT YET!", and I was literally shocked when my mum told me she wasn't going to put up Christmas decorations in her and dad's apartment. Mostly, people regard my Christmas hype as nothing too unusual, but there have been a few who feel the need to ask me either

"Why is Christmas such a big thing to you – doesn't it bother you what a disgustingly commercialized spending spree it has become?"

or

"Why is Christmas such a big thing to you – you're not religious!"

My answer to the first question is pretty simple: I'm so soaked up on the positive things about Christmas that all the consumerism hype kind of passes over my head. Yes, maybe it's a bit early for all the shops and malls to be playing Christmas carols and putting up tinsels in mid-November, but is it such a big deal to fret and complain about? And frankly, I think that people who complain about all the stress and the crowds when they go Christmas shopping mostly bring it on themselves. How about planning things a little in advance and looking at the positive side of things? Can't people look at all the beautiful Christmas lights and feel the joy in their hearts when they're getting gifts for their family and friends?

As for the question about religion, I find it a little ironic. After all, Christmas has been around longer than Christianity, though with slightly different customs and another name. Weren't most Christian holidays (think about Easter and All Hallows' Eve for example) purposefully placed in the calendar to coincide with already existing pagan celebrations? Even today, our Christmas traditions are actually a mixture of Christian elements and those of Winter solstice celebrations. So while I admit I don't celebrate Christmas for the Christian reasons, there's still a lot about the season to be appreciated!

Here follows a list of What Christmas Means To Me:

• Light. As I've mentioned before somewhere in this blog, the days get pretty dark up here when autumn rolls on. Today, the sun rose at quarter past nine and set at quarter past three, and by the time we reach winter solstice, we'll have a whopping amount of about five hours of daylight. So it's really great to have a celebration with candles and Christmas lights – for me, Christmas time has always been like a great big torch in the dark winter season!
• Joy. In addition to bringing actual light, I think Christmas is a time to light up your heart. Forgetting about petty arguments and staying positive. 
• Caring and sharing. For some people, the whole gift-giving tradition now only serves to feed the consuming frenzy, but for me it has always been a beautiful representation of how we can get joy out of giving something for others, whether it be something material or not. 
• Peace. Christmas should provide a break from everyday obligations and stress. Get some time for yourself and the people who are important to you. 
• Beauty. Admittedly, there have been years when the Christmas weather was not like out of those snowy greeting cards, but generally I think everything looks incredibly beautiful at this time of the year. I like sunshine and green trees and all that, but what really moves my heart is a beautiful, easy snowfall. Actually, I think really violent blizzards are nice to look at as well, I just want to be safe indoors when they happen. Not on a bus stop waiting for a bus that is half an hour late. Anyway, landscapes covered in snow never fail to catch my eye, they look stunning both in the dark of night and when the sun shines on them and makes them sparkle.

What do you celebrate about Christmas? (or Yule, or Winter solstice, or Hanukkah, whatever you want to call it.) Give it a thought while listening to this uplifting Christmas tune by my favourite man Stevie Wonder, and leave me a comment!

Christmas is all around us...

Dear readers, Merry Christmas anticipation to you all and welcome to count down the days with me as I turn Music & My Mind into a Christmas calendar blog from this day till the 24th!

As Christmas is by far my favourite holiday – I usually start expecting it in September already – I knew that I wanted to some Christmas blogging in the Advent calendar style. One post for each day, that is to say. My initial idea was to share one of my favourite Christmas songs each day, but then it expanded as I wanted also to write about the things that I see and celebrate in the Christmas season. So I'm going to do both: for 24 days, I'm going to share a song and my thoughts. I'll make some effort to have the song match with the theme of the post, but if it doesn't, I won't sweat about it.

I'm going to start off with a fun Christmas tag! Feel free to fill in the tag yourself, either in a comment or, even better, in your own blog.

1. What's your favourite holiday movie?

Love, Actually without a doubt, though I have to say I don't really know many other Christmas movies... RENT is a close second; I guess RENT it's not "officially" a Christmas thing, but the story does begin and end on Christmas Eve, and the "appreciate each day you have" message goes very well with the Christmas season don't you think?

2. What are your favourite Christmas colours?

The silver and white of snow, the green of spruce and the brown of gingerbreads.

3. Do you like to stay in your PJs or dress up for Christmas?

I like to dress up nicely on Christmas Eve (because for some bizarre reason, in the Nordic countries we do most of the actual celebrating on the Eve) but change into pyjamas when we start to open the presents, which happens in the evening after the Christmas dinner.

4. If you could only buy one person a present this year who would it be?

That would be Mimi, my little puppy! She's only five months old so this will be her first Christmas and I know she'll be so very excited about the wrapped-up presents and will make us all happy.

Little Mimi! Isn't she lovely? Picture taken by me

5. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning?

On Christmas Eve, the Christmas morning isn't really a thing in the Nordic countries.

6. Have you ever built a ginger-bread house?

My sister and I did it a couple of times when we were kids, though we used ready-made pieces that we just decorated and glued together with the sugar stuff.

7. What do you like to do on your Christmas break?

Listen to lots and lots of Christmas music, just walk around and soak up the lovely atmosphere, read good books with something warm to drink, spend time with family and friends, light candles...

8. Any Christmas wishes?

I wish for snow and a chance to get to sing Christmas carols.

9. Favourite Christmas smell?

Fresh spruce needles.

10. Favourite Christmas meal or treat?

There's a traditional, warm Christmas drink up here in the north which doesn't have its own word in English but is sometimes translated as mulled wine. It's not exactly the same thing though. Anyway, it's red, warm and spicy, and can be alcoholic or not (I prefer the non-alcoholic alternative). In Finnish it's called glögi and the word derives from the Swedish glödgat, heated wine.

I'm getting the Christmas feeling in my fingers while writing this... So let's finish off the first calendar post with the song of the day: Christmas Is All Around from the lovely film Love, Actually.

Tomorrow's post will be about the things that I celebrate about Christmas, so welcome back then!