Holiday season's bliss and traditions

Aaah, it's finally December!

And December only means one thing...Christmas is coming!

Personally, I am a huge Christmas freak, I just cannot help it. The lights, the tree all sparkly with ornaments and glitters, the streets covered in snow, the hot glögi with a slice of panettone (love the merging of Finland and Italy) all puts me in the best mood ever.

I love traditions and I try to bring my culture with me as I live in a foreign country where, even if we are on the same continent, things cannot be more different from what I was used to.

Firstly, when do we put up the Christmas tree? The Italian way would be to do that on the 8th of December, the day of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a national holiday in Italy and almost all the Catholic countries in the world. Here in Finland on the other hand, the most traditional families wait until a week before Christmas Eve or even on that same night.

Personally, I like to put it up early, so that it is ready for Itsenäisyyspäivä, Finnish Independence Day, the 6th of December.

And I never forget the Presepe, the Nativity scene, Italy oldest Christmas tradition.

And the food? Well, Italy is known for its cuisine, so definitely I'd say that it is for the win here! Starting with the national classics, Panettone e Pandoro (which originated respectively in Milano and Verona), I love to prepare my region's traditional dessert, called Fristingo. It's a concotion of dried figs, nuts, coffee, various liquors and dried fruit, baked in the oven and eaten throuought the whole holiday time. It's delicious!

On Christmas Eve, I like to follow my native tradition and prepare various fish courses for my family and guests, especially "Baccalà in umido", stockfish cooked in a tomato sauce with potatoes...Gorgeous!

I could list all the foods I would make for Christmas Day but I am afraid that the list would be too long for a little article.

But something I love to make with my daughters is definitely Finnish...Piparkakut! Fragrant and delicious gingerbread cookies that make the whole house smell like Christmas miracle and it is so fun to choose all the shapes and decorate them with sweet sweet frosting. And definitely the Chirstmas ham, Joulukinkku, cannot be forgotten on our table.

While I love following my Italian roots, I want my family to make its own traditions, to be passed on generation after generation, that my daughters one day can teach to their children and so on, to never be forgotten and to be gifted through time, even to others.

We now do the Elf on the Shelf and we open every day the Advent calendar. We watch silly Christmas movies, in which the big city girl falls in love with the hunky flannel bound guy, we wear matching pajamas and we share a simple, calm Christmas time, lazy and cozy, thankful that we have each other, every day of our lives.

And that is real bliss.