Posts Tagged ‘christmas’

It’s been a busy Christmas this year. We’re old now so time moves really fast. Plus, between Elina’s new job and me being busy at work, we’re not taking much time off. So, it has all been compacted into a small space.

Venla helped with the tree decorating this year. She did a great job, even if most of the baubles are at a Venla-eyeline height.

Elina wouldn’t let me by the biggest Christmas ham this year, nor would it have fitted into the oven, so we had to settle for a 9kg one.

I’ve never really had a Christmas jumper. I have a Finnish jumper, with raindeer on, that I trot out each Christmas to join in the festivities. But ideally, Christmas jumpers should be horribly loud garish.

When I saw this one, I couldn’t resist:

It reads:

All I want for Christmas is the means of production

For those who do not recognise the quote, that is a reference to Karl Marx.

Of course, there is a huge amount of irony in someone taking the work of Marx, commoditising it into a jumper that they have then sold me using a global marketplace like Facebook. But surely Marx himself saw this coming?

Last year we bought a Christmas ham the same size as Venla.

This year, that proved impossible. We went to Makro to buy the biggest ham we could, but they topped out at 6kg. Venla now weighs 11kg, so we’re not even close. That is probably for the best, though. It takes us a full week to eat through 6kg of gammon.

We outdid ourselves with toilet rolls, too.

There was a big difference in Venla between her birthday two months ago, and Christmas. She wasn’t that interested in unwrapping at her birthday but now she delights in it.

I took this photo in February.

Still, maybe the Crowne Plaza is just so popular that you have to book your Christmas do in February. Not that any Toastmasters will be eating there after what happened last time.

At the end of December, I attend the Leeds Schools’ Carol Concert to support my mum, who was singing in the adult choir. They did not get much of a look-in: they were given a few songs, but most of the songs were sung by the children. This was a shame because the adults were much better, but apparently, parents felt it should be all about the children for some reason.

We took Venla, who let out one perfect cry just at the end of a song, leading the entire hall to go up in laughter. I think we have a future performer in the making.

Well, we have survived Venla’s first Christmas. Here is a guide on how to do it. First, buy a gammon joint as big as your baby…

6kg. It took us until New Year’s Day morning to finish it off. Second, build a gingerbread house…

You cannot have a proper Christmas without a gingerbread house. Step three, start the day off right…

And by “right”, I mean have a bacon sandwich for breakfast, where you use gammon for bread. Completing the Parkrun is optional. Step four, pretend your baby has any kind of knowledge of what is going on…

Finally, step five, try and find somewhere to put the mountain of gifts your baby has received.

I have been working with Sky Sports as a client for a few years now. However, at the end of December, I decided it was time to move on to pastures new and said goodbye. It has been a great place to be a part of, and we have done some cool stuff with technology. I hope they can continue a level of independence even if the Murdock takeover goes through.

They were good enough to throw me a rather large leaving party.

Sure, some labelled it as a “Christmas party” instead, and pointed out that I also had a leaving do earlier in the week at the Lamb & Flag. But those in the inner circle knew what was really going on. It was held at the New Dock Hall, which is opposite the Royal Armouries.

The food was pretty poor. Some kind of vegetable soup served independently of any bread, followed by a sad roast chicken dinner. The generic chocolate dessert made up for it a little, but the nazi waiters refused to let us keep the desserts of the two people who had not been able to make it, despite the fact that Sky had already paid for those meals.

The drinks prices were also a joke. £7 to pre-order a jug of orange juice. Orange juice! Or, you could have a bottle of cider, for which I was charged over £5. Not recommended as a venue.

Luckily, these events are defined by the company you keep, and not the quality of the food and drink, so all was well. I would like to thank everyone who made the effort to attend my leaving do, especially the people who had no idea who I was.

Wherever you are this holiday season, I hope you get the chance to take some time out to spend with the people you love.

For the December event at Sunday Assembly Leeds, Dermot led an assembly on “traditions”.

Last month we made our fourth annual pilgrimage up to St. Lukes in Headingley for Finnish Christmas Carols. Turn out was higher than ever with almost every seat in the small chapel being taken. Possibly due to the recently started Finnish language school based in Headingley.

After, we piled into the church house for food and conversation. Alas we did not win the raffle for the ginger bread house. Better luck next year…