Opening of Christmas Season

Hello Readers,

Santa Claus. Photo Credit: Danielle Gadsby

You can see the smile on my face that shows
my Christmas Spirit.
Photo Credit: Danielle Gadsby

It is now officially the opening of the Christmas Season. This happened last Saturday November 17th. If you are not from Rovaniemi or been to Rovaniemi at Christmas time I do suggest it.

Here is the link to the Opening of the Christmas Season 2018 Celebration - You can see me waving at the beginning (around the 12 minute mark)as my sister was home in Canada and able to see me on the live stream.The live stream is available each year, and they speak in both Finnish and English so anyone can enjoy it.

Me petting the one Husky they
had on a chain.
Photo Credit: Danielle Gadsby

There were free shuttles available from the city center that day and I took advantage of that. I do have a bus card but the friend I went with did not so these free shuttles saved about 7 euros in bus fairs. We took the earliest shuttle at 2pm us to Santa Claus Village. We wanted to go early because for that day there was free admission to the Husky Farm. You still had to pay for Husky sled tours but at least we got to see all the pup and even pet some of them.

When you go to Santa Claus Village it really gets you in the Christmas Spirit, even though there hasn't been any snow here at the Arctic Circle. Around 3:00pm the center starts playing some good Christmas music, and there is a reindeer brought out that you can pet and take pictures with as well (I did not do this, I have already taken a photo with a reindeer before and I thought best to allow the children to experience this). Around 3:30pm we found where we would want to stand since I knew my sister would be watching from Canada, and I wanted her to be able to see me. All the festivities started around 3:45pm and there were singing and dancing elves, and speeches before Santa came out and Officially Started the Season.  You can check out the entire event
in the link I have above.

This was an amazing experience, I couldn't stop smiling. It really brought out the kid in me and I wish I had of gone to this all of the years I have been here in Rovaniemi.

Thanks for reading....
Enjoy the beginning of the Holiday Season!

Santa Claus Parade

Hello Readers,

This photo is of me testing some
glasses at H&M. Really festive.
Photo Credit: Danielle Gadsby

On Saturday Nov. 10/2018 I attended the Santa Claus Parade in Rovaniemi, Finland. If you didn't already know Rovaniemi is the Official Home of Santa Claus. It started from the Town hall and finished in the city center or Lordi Square as it is known to the locals - named after the Finnish rock band, Lordi, which is from Rovaniemi.

I was a little disappointed by the parade, however, it was wet and rainy all day. The parade did not have many elves walking with Santa and the single Rudolph reindeer. When Santa arrived at the city square he was unaccompanied by the reindeer. The highlight was when a team of kindergarten children sang him a few Christmas songs. Yes, the songs were in Finnish but that didn't matter as you could see the joy on their faces while singing to the man himself. I have added a video of one of the songs to the Finland Photos Page located at the top.

This is the children singing the songs to Santa Claus.
Photo Credit: Danielle Gadsby

When the children were finished Santa took the stage and thanked everyone for coming out. He talked in both Finnish and English and asked the crowd if they thought they were on the naughty list or the nice list. There was also explanation that you could see him in the two malls that afternoon for a short chat and some pictures (we chose not to do that). It is very different then at home, as we have mall Santa's in almost every mall near by at Christmas Time. The difference is though that Rovaniemi being the home of Santa Claus, there is a Santa Claus Village just on the outskirts of the city.

I will be attending Santa Claus Village's official opening of the Christmas season this Saturday and I hope that I will not be disappointed. I think the atmosphere will be different because there will be more Christmassy things there - like trees, elves, presents etc. All of this would be better if it would snow as well. Here in the Arctic Circle we are still without snow. We are patiently awaiting the white blanket that will make it seem that Christmas is coming.We are already headed into the dark winter, as the "sun" (it has been cloudy and grey for almost a month, there has not been any sunshine) has been setting around 3pm and rising each morning around 9am. Our daylight will get shorter before I go home for Christmas, but with no snow it feels even darker.

I hope everyone reading this is getting into the holiday spirit, whether they celebrate Christmas or some other holiday.

Thanks for reading....
Bye for now.

Almost Christmas

Hello Readers,

The end of October is now here, that means we are so much closer to my favourite season. Christmas season will be here soon. I am so lucky to be able to start my season in Rovaniemi which is the home of Santa Claus. The official Christmas Season starts here on November 17, 2018. I am excited to attend this event at Santa Claus Village.

This is the Screenshot of the Christmas Countdown for
Hallmark Movies.
Photo Credit: http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/christmas/
new-movies-countdown-to-christmas-2018

According to Visit Rovaniemi's website the Event starts at 4pm, with the Grand Opening of The Christmas Season, at the central square of Santa Claus Village. The elves and local artists put on a festive concert that culminates in Santa Claus’ speech. The evening is rounded off with dancing to Christmassy disco tunes. The city is also offering Free Shuttle Bus Services from the city centre and I will definitely be taking advantage of that. I hope to be able to document this in a future blog post.

Christmas Movies are probably the biggest highlight for me. I usually look forward to ABC Spark/ABC Family's selection of movies - I could not find that list to include, I did find information that the channel switched names to Freeform - But there was only a list called Kickoff to Christmas which was for the month of November. I love the Hallmark Christmas Countdown because they come out with new films each year. It is another bonus that I love Romantic movies which is what I believe Hallmark specializes in. It is also a bonus that my dad likes these Hallmark movies and I watch them online in Finland while he watches in Canada and we compare our notes with each other about the movies.

I am also counting down the days until I get home for Christmas which as of Oct. 30/18 is 46 days (hehe). I am only a little excited, mainly because right now my sister is planning her Wedding next fall and I am not there to be in the middle of all the planning. I know she understands and I am still involved via Video Chat but it is not the same as being there helping her. When I am home, I hope to see many people but also get a lot of things checked off my sisters list for her wedding. I will be buying my Maid of Honour dress then as well. I can't wait to see all of my little munchkins. I miss them the most because they grow so much over a few months. I love Christmas at home, with all the festivities, the music and attending the movies. I want the house to be all ready and decorated by the time I get there on Dec. 15th. I already asked my mom when she plans to put the tree up and start the decorations but she isn't quite in the same spirits as me.

Bye for now...
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