In Search of Father Christmas

We all know where Santa lives, right?  The North Pole, of course!  So, if you're going to look for the REAL Santa, it's going to be quite the journey.  And it truly was the trip of a lifetime, especially for the under 12 set! 

We set off with our dear friends the Walkers on a journey to Lapland, Finland. Lapland is the upper region of Finland, and is actually largely inside the Arctic Circle.  The climate is described as subarctic (did you even know there was such a thing?) and it can sink to negative 45 degrees Celsius.  Yup.  At this time of year there is about 3 hours of "dim light" each day, and the rest of the time it is pitch dark. 

We traveled by plane (3.5 hours), and then by bus (1.5 hours) up to our resort in Luosto.  And it was worth every minute of the trip.  70% of Lapland is forest land, and it is impossible to describe the natural beauty.  It is unlike anything I have ever seen.  The lack of sun gives the landscape an absence of color, so the world looks like an Ansel Adams photo. 

We were part of the Search for Father Christmas - and unlike the "American" version of Santa, with bright colors, music, and Disneyesque fanfare - Father Christmas is a low key, rustic, quiet sort of fellow.  We spent two days roaming the countryside looking for him - aided by his Special Elves.  There was Noisy Nod:

Snowy Bowy

Speedy Sam

And Tricky Dicky (Seriously.  You can't make this stuff up)

At each location, the Elves would meet us and provide clues as to the location of Santa Claus.   And they would have great activities to keep us distracted along the way.  Such as snowmobiling:

Dog Sledding:

Reindeer Rides:

One Horse Open Sleigh (OF COURSE!)

And when the big day finally came, it was a surprise to one and all!  We were taken about a mile deep in to the forest by snow mobile:

Where one, and only one lone house stood nestled in the forest.  We were invited in by some lovely elves, and entered what appeared to be a study, desk piled high with letters to Santa:

A bell rang, and upstairs we go - the door swings open and it is.......Mrs. Claus!!!

I have to admit.  I cried.  The kids were so overwhelmed they couldn't speak.  Mrs. Claus was baking mince pies for Santa, but was bemoaning the fact that she had to bake so many because the elves kept snitching them!  She shared Santa's favorite cookies (Chocolate Chip), and sat with the girls for a while.  Then she taught them the magic word, and a bookcase swung open to reveal a secret passageway! 

Down the stairs we go....and who is waiting?  YES!  Santa!  OK, so here's where you're going to have to use your imagination.  Extreme cold kills camera batteries.  How's THAT for timing???  Luckily, we have the whole thing on video tape, should you ever want to see the magic. 

Santa held in his white gloved hands the VERY letters that Caroline and Georgia had posted to him earlier that week. After a few minutes where he talked, Caroline sat stunned and Georgia chewed on her mitten, Caroline stammers out "Am I on the nice list?" And much to her relief, she is. 

Santa then presented them with a wrapped gift - items off their ACTUAL wish lists in the letter - he IS amazing! 

Santa was, of course, the highlight.  But we had just as much fun every night on our Arctic Adventure.  We had elected to stay in the villas, which were lovely:

But, as you can see...a little on the remote side.  As in, about a mile walk to the nearest place to eat dinner (well, the ONLY place to eat dinner. It's a little sparse out there).  And a mile in sub zero temperatures with snow drifts as tall as Georgia is a loooonggg mile.  We were dreading it - and it was the absolute highlight of the trip.  We would bundle everyone up, grab the Walkers, and venture out into the night.  It is absolutely, completely silent.  All you hear is the crunching of your footsteps - the silence almost rings in your ears.  So we ran, jumped, trudged, made snow angels, had snowball fights and made our way to dinner.  We lost kids in snowbanks.  We laughed so hard we couldn't walk any more.  It took us about an hour each way, but it was my favorite part of the trip. 

And when we made it?  What awaited us - what pinnacle of Finnish dining?

Yes.  That's right PROBABLY the best after ski in the world.  After a mile in the snow, you really want something a little more definitive, don't you think? 

But we were brave - we tried all the Lappish delicacies - such as reindeer jerky, reindeer salami, and other curiosities:

This is poroja potin - Reindeer in a Pot. 

All in all - one of our best adventures yet!  One we will never, ever forget! Merry Christmas to ALL!

Frohe Weihnachten!

 Merry Christmas from Vienna, Austria!

I left my heart, and my stomach, in Vienna, Austria.  We made a special trip to see the Christmas Markets, or Christkindlmarkts - a three day, breathtaking tour of a stunning city decked out in all of the Christmas finery you can imagine.  The Christmas Markets start with the Advent - this year on November 12th.  They are open all day and into the night, and feature everything from ornaments to clothing to candy and bratwurst.  The Walkers joined us and only pictures can do it justice...so here we go:

Before we indulge in massive gluttony, a little culture.  The Mozart Memorial:

Enough culture.  Time for the gluttony.  First stop?  The Weihnachtsdorf Maria Theresien Platz.  The market is in between two of the main museums in Austria. 

And features candy:

Ornaments:

Meat (yes, I said Meat):

And this (anyone?):

And of course, lots of food.  Every other stand sells hot beverages (it is a little chilly there, as you can see).  For the kids?  Hot Chocolate or Kinderpunsch.

How's your hot chocolate, Georgia?  Georgia?

For the adults?  A drink called Punsch - which comes in all different flavors - our favorite being Bieren Punsch (which we originally through had something to do with beer, but it's actually berry). It's a hot schnapps based drink (we think - its some kind of liquor, what more do you need to know?)

Next stop?  Wiener Christkindlmarket at Rathausplatz.  This gorgeous building is City Hall:

More bratwurst (the cheese filled kind are really the best).  More Punsch.  More ornaments.  For a short break, we went to a restaurant that was an old Monk's cellar - and we ate.....

Oh yes.  We did.  And we were serenaded by this:

By this time, I am officially in love with Austria.  But the next day - there's more!  A horse drawn carriage ride through the streets:

And more markets.  Next stop?  the Weihnachtsmarket am Spittleberg which was our favorite, because it was small and featured local artists.  Also, the Punsch was homemade and had been distilling for weeks, so it was suuuuper yummy! But we didn't forget to feed the kids:

Then on to the Altweiner Christkindlemarkt where you could watch them assemble beautiful garlands:

But we are not done yet!  That night, on to the Schonbrunn Castle - a fantastic setting and a gorgeous market.  We ate ourselves sick on handmade potato chips, chocolate covered marshmallows, and what else?  Punsch.  Oh, and maybe some Gluewein (hot spiced wine). 

So, with full stomachs, we bid farewell to Austria.  A good time was had by all! 



This is HALLOWEEN! Year Two...

Happy Super Belated Halloween Everyone!!

Well, it's our second year living abroad during our very favorite holiday (it might even eclipse Christmas), and it's always an experience!  As other countries do not seem to embrace the pursuit of heaps of sugary goodness the way Americans do, our school had it's own Halloween event the Friday before Halloween, called Trick or Trunk! Wait...it may have been Trunk or Treat!  Yes, that's it!  This is an event where all the parents meet in the parking lot of the school, pop the trunk, and festoon our vehicles with as much Halloween flair as they can handle. The kids then just go trunk-to-trunk to collect their goodies.  Above is the Walker's jolly welcome .  We went for a slightly more spooky effect:

This is an interesting event.  In order to prevent tragic sugar fuelled traffic accidents, all the children MUST stay in the vehicles until precisely 7pm, when an air horn announces the official start of the event.  Now, there is nothing kids like more than knowing that pounds of delicious candy await while they are trapped on the inside of a stationary vehicle.  It's OK.  The screaming and whining just added to the spooky ambiance.  At 7pm- it's GO time. Here's the California Gang (plus G's friend Kate sporting some Hermione Hair):



And here's C's cast of characters - the Zombie Cheerleader (Anna) and the Angel/Devil (Michelle) are Caroline's two best buddies at school:

My Viking Warrior and her Kitty:

And for those of you that are keeping track - this is in fact the third year in a row that Georgia has chosen a costume that involves feathers and sequins, reminiscent of  a Vegas show girl.  I seriously fear for the costumes of tomorrow. 

The benefit of trick or trunking?  It's speedy.  No pesky doorbell ringing.  No long driveways.  No waiting for people to pause the TV and answer the door.  Heck, you really don't even have to say Trick or Treat.  The result?  In 30 minutes of trunk or treating, here's what they collected:

For future reference, if you are living abroad and want to be insanely popular, stock up on "American Candy".  Note the absence of all things familiar - M&Ms, Snickers, Reeces - they must have a heavy import tax, because we mainly got Haribo gummies. 

On the actual day of Halloween, we went in search of Trick or Treating, but alas, this tradition has not made it's way to England yet.  Or at least, not in our area.  So, we carved pumpkins at home: 

The finished results:



But the Best of Halloween 2011 Award goes to our neighbors.  They are a British/Bulgarian family with two girls ages 10 and 11.  At about 9:30 pm, our gate bell rings.  On the intercom we can see our neighbors, the girls both dressed in full old lady hag costume (like the old lady in Snow White), clutching giant, totally empty pillowcases.  We let them in and the kids race off to get the candy.  Real trick-or-treaters!  Hooray!  We fling open the door, and the girls hold out the candy bucket.  And that's when (record scratching) the whole game changes.

 "Wait Wait!" says Yulia (the mom) "There is a show!"  A show?  We're not accustomed to Halloween shows, but sure!  Awesome!  A Halloween show!  Yulia then dons a feathered and jeweled Mardi Gras mask and whips out her iPhone.  The girls turn on flashlights and hold them under their chins, illuminating their over sized witch masks.  Simon (Dad) grins goofily wearing his Crocodile Dundee hat (I don't think this was a costume).  Holding the iPhone over her head and swaying it back and forth like she's at a concert, Yulia cues the "spooky music".  The girls then enact a skit where they cast curses on each other (reason unclear - it was hard to hear under the masks).  "Woooo Eeeee OOOOOOOOO" sings Yulia, swaying with her iPhone above her head, mardi gras feathers bobbing.Simon grins and bobs his head to Yulia's music.   "Hehehehehehehe" witch cackle our young witch neighbors.   "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" They all yell in unison, and present our girls with giant, beautiful chocolate pumpkins. 

The best part?  I think they put the whole show together because they had American neighbors and they know that we love Halloween.  These are the moments living abroad that I cherish most of all.