Tanja @tanjaostman@dingdash.com

Liars.

Taking a walk in the winter wonderland before the rain tomorrow. 🌧 Too bad with rain in January.

We had a great weekend with guests from Sweden (I'm behind the camera). Our last weekend with Christmas tree and decorations. We were walking on water... no faith needed. 😀

#Helsinki #Finland #winter

@Berrybunchfamily this map explains our cultural differences when it comes to taking our shoes off in homes! 😀 I'm still not over the shock that you wear shoes in your own home - not only your guests. 😂 I have traveled a little bit in Europe, but not visited private homes. That's the reason I haven't fully understood this before... It would be really weird to use outdoor shoes indoors in the Nordic countries. But a great deal of the year we wear winter boots, and our shoes get really snowy, wet or muddy.

Happy New Year! ⭐️🎉 (My son in the picture).

#northkorea

If I would write on Facebook what I will write here, I'm sure I would get strange reactions. Most Finns and Swedes believe that Putin is the only villain, and that Joe Biden is great, and that Zelensky is a hero. What if all three are villains, and are guilty of war crimes? Both Ukraine and Russia are highly corrupt countries. There are Ukrainians of Russian ethnicity who have moved to Finland, and they have been misstreated in their homeland. I must admit I haven't watched tv-news a lot during 2022, because war is too traumatic for a Finn. I followed the war every day in the beginning, and it created too much stress. My grandparents survived a war against Russia. And I still see the consequences in the "best country in the world" in how people are behaving and doing (f.i domestic violence). Anyone of you who understands what's going on? I mean for real, not only the official MSM narrative. Will Russia wage war against NATO, and that includes Fin and Swe?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11562221/Russias-navy-equipped-hypersonic-Zircon-cruise-missiles-weeks.html

Helsinki, Finland. (Picture: Ants Vahter. Instagram).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! A beautiful day after several gray days. Our winters don't look like this every day. Next wind will blow the snow off the trees. We have daylight for 4-5 hours a day this time of the year, so I had to sneak out at lunchtime as I worked from home today.

We're getting snow at last. Looks like a black and white picture, but it's not. It's just the weather and the landscape.

Climate communism in both Europe and America. This is tyranny. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cl2AqBTNK3h/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

We celebrate Independence day in Finland, today, Dec 6th. Finland got independence from Russia in 1917, after a century under their rule. Sweden had to give away their eastern part, namely Finland, in 1809, because they lost a war against Russia. Sweden was formed as a nation state in the 12th century, and Finland (that wasn't a nation and had very few inhabitants) was incorporated. So we were not oppressed by Sweden, but we were Sweden. Almost 700 years of being a part of Sweden, explains why people like me still speak Swedish in Finland. Unfortunately we have endured several wars during the 20th century. The pictures are from WW2.

My dilemma as well... But American accent is the easiest for me to pronounce.

Have a blessed 2nd Sunday of Advent! We have had below freezing point for weeks already, but very little snow. It's -5°C and this is the lightest it gets by noon, as the sun barely rises above the horizon and we have darkness for 20 hours a day. It's the opposite around midsummer.

We went to an old day Christmas market in a neighboring village, where they have an open-air museum. As you can see we don't have much snow yet.