Jõule Highlights

Everyone knows that there is no place like home for the holidays, but, unfortunately, I wasn't able to go home this year. So, I gathered a few fellow vagabonds -- friends old and new -- and we infused the season with cheer (or rather stuffed it with abundant amounts of tasty homemade morsels). Here are a few of the highlights or our Jõule (Christmas) celebrations!


Gathering on Christmas Eve, we were lucky to have in our midst a world-renowned German MPP (Master Potato Peeler), Hape.

Traveling all the way from Finland, we also had master Chef Jen, pictured right, preparing scrumptious dishes of her home tradition -- cranberry bread, special kind of scalloped potato with sardines that I forget the name of, almond paste coffee bread, meatballs (and the chef is vegetarian... imagine that!) to name a few of the tasty items.

We also had a dancing Russian, Nastya, who prepared her potato salad and blini with much flare and then persuaded us all to join her in a hilarious game of charades/pictionary.


Caroline, a carrot-peeling Nebraskan (who also makes a mean batch of maraschino cherry cookies, by the way) brought many smiles and cheer to our bunch.


Finally, we were lucky to have two elves with us to prepare the salad and add to our lovely Christmas mix. Britta added some traditional German Christmas butter cookies to our table and Marika, the Estonian-Russian in our company, celebrated her first Christmas with our international crowd.


We celebrated both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and filled our time with festivity:

Feasting on fabulous dishes... Trimming the tree with popcorn and cranberries... Playing games... Enjoying hot mulled wine... Laughing...
Watching movies... Sharing stories... Singing... Exchanging Presents...

Jõule 2006

Celebrating Birthdays...
(Hape birthday, Hape! ~ December 25 and Happy Birthday, Jen! ~December 26)
































In the end, a very cozy and beautiful Christmas... I hope yours was as beautiful!

HÄID JÕULE, EVERYONE!