Joy & Fun linkup 28

Day of Independence
Tomorrow December the 6th we celebrate 
in Finland our 99th Day of Independence.
So let's take a look at our blue and white Finnish soul...

The flag of Finland, also called 
siniristilippu - Blue Cross Flag
dates from the beginning of the 20th century. 
On a white background, it features 
a blue Nordic Cross, 
which represents Christianity. 

Because of our flag and our thousand lakes
we Finns love blue in flowers, clothes, home decoration - simply in everything.

The white reminds us of our white snowy winters  and 

soft white clouds against the blue sky.

I find the Midsummer rose - Rosa pimpinellifolia plena to be very Finnish.

This might be the essence of the Finnish soul in mosaic form.

Next year is a great celebration year for Finland.

The logo above shall be seen in hundreds of events 

throughout the year.

I intend to tell you about Finland and our customs,

Kirja vieköön! continues reviewing Finnish books...

I wish you'll enjoy my company also next year!

For me December is a great month. In addition to Christmas 
we are celebrating 4 birthdays in the family and
my grand daughter goes to Oxford University for interviews and admission tests!
❤︎ I wish you luck my dear Helmi ❤︎

Because of tomorrow's celebration day
the linkup is open already and shall be open the whole week.

Mosaic Monday
Makrotex Challenge

Previous Joy & Fun 27

Linkup 1 & the rules.

❤︎  Wishing a great Day of Independence to us Finns ❤︎

An InLinkz Link-up

Joy & Fun linkup 27

Breaking the rules is fun, isn't it!
So Flower Wednesday invites you again to JOY & FUN!

Feel free to share whatever brings you joy & fun these dark winter days!
No need to be florals.

A few words about the Finnish expression PIKKUJOULU. Literally it means Little Christmas... meaning pre-Christmas parties / fiestas / celebrations that are celebrated everywhere - with friends and family at homes and with coworkers at restaurants - drinking a lot, I mean a lot!!!! We have a saying Joulu juhlista jaloin, pikkujouluista kontaten. There is a play of words, being hard to translate, but the meaning is:

Christmas is the noblest of all fiestas.

🍷🍷🍷 Pre-Christmas fiestas make you return home on all fours! 🍷🍷🍷
A tiny explanation:
jalo = noble, jaloin = most noble
jalka = feet, jaloin = with feet
I have asked for help with translation- when I get it, I'll add it here :))

One popular drink at pre-Christmas time is GLÖGI - GLÖGG
- a bit like German Glühwein with or without alcohol.

GLÖGI is a hot drink known all around Scandinavia. Today it's mostly associated to this dark time preceding Christmas - Joulu. The spices - cinnamon, ginger - used in it sound rather exotic since the present form originates from the homes of Swedish-speaking upper class that the rest of Finland of course started to copycat as soon as they could afford it. 

Glögi is often confused with mulled wines, especially German Glühwein, but glögi is made of black currant or other juice. It is served hot with raisins and almonds.

Tule mukaan - Come along!

Previous linkup 26

Linkup 1 & the rules.

❤︎ Happy pre-Christmas time ❤︎

An InLinkz Link-up

Joy & Fun linkup 26

Flower Wednesday is breaking the rules this week too!

Feel free to share whatever brings you
JOY & FUN 
these dark winter days! No need to be florals.

 I myself enjoy a lot playing with photo manipulations.
These duplicate illusions were made with Photoscape - so easy!

Tule mukaan - Come along!

I don't usually have any red but this week I could contribute to Jutta's
Ich sehe rot!

Previous linkup 25

Linkup 1 & the rules.

❤︎ Thank you so much for joining ❤︎

An InLinkz Link-up