Birthdays and Christmas headbangers

Atte will turn seven on Tuesday but he already had birthday celebrations during this weekend. We had guests over on both Saturday and Sunday. It was an extra busy weekend since Reko's music school had their Xmas concert on Saturday and the boys' school's Xmas bazaar sale was today; hosting both adults and sugar-high firstgraders on top of those was a decent test of stamina for us.

Atte's birthday weekend was nice, though. He got a new bike - we know it's a strange season for bicycles but his old one got stolen earlier in the autumn, and he asked for a new one for his birthday already then. And thanks to the help from grandma, grandpa and auntie, we got him what he wanted and needed: a seven-speed beauty with 24-inch tires, a far cry from the kiddie bike he rode before. Atte just loves to ride his bike, so this one he really appreciated.

Snow has been coming and going and the temperature hovers one day just below, then just above freezing. We did have quite the winter wonderland again for a few days, but that's pretty much gone now, too. Santa will probably have to use reindeers of the flying variety because the sleigh's no good on slush. But there's no way weather's damping our Xmas spirit, and gingerbread cookies have been baked as they should. Even by adults.

We planned to go the top Finnish heavy metal musicians' 3rd annual "Heavy Xmas" concert on the 20th - they play wonderfully and the arrangements are pretty tasteful and respectful, really. But it seems others like this stuff too: the concert's sold out and we now try to get someone less enthusiastic than us to separate himself from his tickets for our benefit. There's a nice musicians' web site that may turn out helpful, but we have to be prepared to face an evening at the movies in the end.

One working week to go, and then we can settle into holiday peace. Some family members have already done that:


And now - where's the hot glogg...