It is Christmas again
After a hectic autumn it is time to celebrate Christmas, enjoy time with the family and friends, relax and empower for the new year, everyone with own style and traditions. For many, as me, Christmas is the most important celebration of the year. Many traditions come from my childhood in countryside.
I like giving gifts to my close ones, so if I see something nice in sales even in summer, I do the Christmas shopping. One important thing is the Christmas cards. In recent years, when I visited often in Pittsburgh, I used to shop them and also many other kind of cards at one very special gift store Kards Unlimited (https://www.kardsunlimited.com/). They have so beautiful and special collection of different cards. The store is a real gem! I still have some cards left from my last visit two years ago. I send them in special cases. Good friends in US love Finnish Minna Immonen cards, so they will always get this brand. They frame the cards, and then have a Finnish Christmas village at home reminding nice times in Finland. So, selecting and sending cards to the international friends start my real Xmas time in mid November, later at the beginning of December is time to send cards to relatives and friends in Finland.
Christmas is important also in working community. We have had various ways to celebrate Xmas time together. Currently, as many work remotely, we highlight one day for being together and celebrating. This year it was time to celebrate together our remarkable work, like successful curricula reform, rankings (Shanghai 76-100), and good work wellbeing survey results. We were very visible and made a positive impression at summer’s ICN congress in Helsinki. As a great sports fan I like to reference: “For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack”, which has been said to describe Finnish basketball team, called “Susijengi”, but originally from the Jungle book of Rudyard Kipling (1894). We are a great team together. Warm thanks belong to everyone.
This year we had a Christmas lunch together, same day was the university’s Xmas party, and to top it all we enjoyed the concert of the musician and composer Jarkko Ahola at Kuopio Cathedral. Jarkko Ahola is known as a heavy and hard rock singer, and it was worth listening to his singing. The little drummer boy, one of my favorite songs, was not in his program. University’s own Christmas celebration for the students, staff and previous staff is a very nice celebration where we all can feel being of our own community, UEF. As always, it included singing together the most beautiful Christmas songs and nice music by the musicians. It is an important tradition of our culture, everyone can enjoy the spirit, even there is also the religious message. For many of our international students and visitors, it has been a great Christmas experience.
Every year we all hurry to finalize many tasks, manuscripts need to be submitted, students like to get feedback for their works, and I have to write this blog! What will I do on my Christmas break? Gingerbreads are baked, as well some date cakes (already given to the gifts), real Christmas tree from own forest is waiting for the decorations, special curtains and table clothes are waiting to be put on their places. Christmas buns and cake will be baked closer to Eve. I grow lot of different vegetables in my gardens, so the casseroles and rosolli salad will be made from beginning to end. Especially my mother has been my inspiration in kitchen, such a great chef. Always miss her delicious traditional Finnish Christmas pastries, “joulutorttu”, self-made dough, never get them anymore, now only in memories. Once again, this year, meat is a fillet of moose and also lutefisk is waiting for the right day.
This baking and cooking are not the whole story, Santa Claus is coming, Christmas is the time to enjoy and relax. It is time with my husband, meeting family members and friends, reading good books, walking in forest, sitting in sauna, and doing things which give joy and empower.
I wish you Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year 2026. God Jul och Gott Nytt År. Hyvää Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta 2026.
Tarja Kvist
Professor, PhD, RN
Head of Department of Nursing Science
Nurse Director of Wellbeing Services County of Central Finland
Department of Nursing Science
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Eastern Finland
P.O.Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland
https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/person/tarja.kvist/
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