Christmas Eve in Helsinki

travel 1 Minute

One of the craziest things I ever did – the flights both way with two connections, more time in the air than in Helsinki. But if I am supposed to be not just a godmother for Sonia, but a Fairy Godmother for the whole family, I have to measure to these standards!


Flying there:

O’Hare Airport
O’Hare Airport: the best things for Christmas!
I had to explain this Santa that I am going were the REAL Santa lives!
Holiday check-in
Philadelphia Airport
Helsinki Airport

Sneaking into the house while the smallest child is out and wrapping the gifts:

Having the most beautiful Christmas Eve in the traditional Finnish style:

There are Santa’s footsteps by the tree 🙂
Everything is ready for the family concert
Traditional roasted pork leg (roasted for 11 hours!)
Ginger Cake
Apple Cinnamon cookies

And receiving beautiful gifts:

The Christmas Gnom
Woolen gloves knitted by my friend Natasha

Published by Hettie D.

My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996. I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future. I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life. As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.

Published

9 thoughts on “Christmas Eve in Helsinki”

    1. I have to explain it to many people on a regular basis! People don’t know! Sometimes I have to start from what is Finland :), and then – what is Lapland :). I won’t have time to visit Santa’s village, I am here literally for two days to see the loved ones. Maybe in a couple of years, I will take my granddaughter there!

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  3. Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you! This was one year out of five when I actually could leave the States for Christmas, and when my friends family got the news that it is possible, they were so happy, that I felt even MORE joy 🙂

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    1. I have deep family connections in Helsinki, and I love the city very much. Can’t understand those people who are saying there is nothing to do there for more than two days 🙂

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