Merry Christmas from Toronto: Juha & Nuudia

Ugly X-mas sweater party

Like in Finland people are having pre-Christmas parties called "pikkujoulu", American and Canadian youth are throwing ugly x-mas sweater parties. Everyone who has seen the movie Bridget Jones, knows what I am talking about ;)

We went to several thrift stores in Toronto, but the sweaters seemed very popular and we couldn't find any. I ended up buying an ugly green sweater and sewed on a Christmas tree decoration. Our friends had bought an ugly sweater with huge shoulder pads for Juha. We had also found some funny stockings to wear and Juha had grown a moustache for the occasion.

Jessie, who hosted the night, had made tons of delicious food. We played Jenga, had very competitive matches on the Wii and Juha won the second prize for best outfit!

Here are some pictures of the night...

Even the dog was in Christmas spirit!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

A few pictures of our Christmas decoration. Most of the things I have made myself. The paper snow flakes are easy to make and they look nice on your window. You'll only need white paper and scissors. Every flake is different, you just need to try out different things.

The red star is made of paper as well. You can get instructions here.

I also couldn't find the right Christmas balls for our tree, so I made the red paper decorations myself and added a few golden balls. A quite simplistic tree, not like the most trees over here. Americans and Canadians are crazy about decorating and most of the trees are covered by so many balls and lights, that you can't see the three under it anymore. Although, I must say that I love the Christmas lights outside on our street. Every house has them; clear, blue, colored, everything you can imagine. Now we only wish for a bit of snow and our Christmas can begin.

We will spend Christmas eve at home with the two of us. We'll eat whatever we want this time, not the traditional Finnish Christmas food we have had to eat every year ;) It's good, but it's nice to eat something else sometimes as well.
On Christmas Day we'll go up to Kevin's farm. Kevin and Eileen play floorball with us and invited us to spend that day with them and Kev's family and friends. Kevin is half Polish, so we are having a lot of Polish food.
And then on Boxing Day we'll fly up North to Timmins, where we'll stay with Matt and Renelle for a week.

DIY: Knitted headband

I am not a granny yet, but somehow I became interested in knitting. The last time I knitted something I was still in elementary school and the scarf I was about to make ended up being a potholder.. I didn't have enough patience.

This time I started with something easy and small. Those knitted headbands are fashionable again and because my hair never fits into a beanie, I prefer headbands.

Before my enthusiasm could fade away I dragged Juha into a knitting supply store and bought one yarn and knitting needles. After watching some videos on YouTube and practicing several times I remembered it again. I started knitting only plain, but the next time I might try some patterns.

And this is the result... Still need some practice though :)

Winter formal

Juha's school organized a winter formal last Saturday. It was held at The Grand Luxe, a very fancy venue, which was perfect for the occasion. First the girls went to Caroline's place to get ready and from there we went together with the guys to the venue. Everyone was dressed up very nicely and the place looked amazing as well. We started with a three course meal and ended dancing with the professors :)

Underground Food Market

Last weekend we celebrated our floorball team mate's 26th birthday. She had bought tickets to an Underground Food Market at the Don Valley Brick Works. From 1889 to the 1980s the Don Valley Brick Works was one of Canada’s pre-eminent brickyards. At its peak more than 43 million bricks a year were manufactured for use in the construction of homes and buildings across Canada. Nowadays it is a museum and community centre. The Toronto Underground Market is a social food market, where home cooks can showcase their products. This was the third time they organized it and the first time at the Brick Works. The place was beautiful, especially at night with all the lights. Outside was a chimney place, where they made mini pizzas and where you could buy grilled marshmallows. Inside were a lot of vendors selling their delicious home made food and drinks. We were fan of the Indian cuisine of butter chicken and chickpea with fresh naan bread.  The event was definitely worth visiting and we left with our bellies stuffed with good food.

Balut egg: duck embryo - A Filipino delicate 

Hot properties

Here are some pictures of the beautiful houses in our neighborhood.

Happy weekend

That was a nice ceremony. I watched it on the TV. After the two minutes of silence and the national anthem fighter planes flew over. Very impressing.

Last weekend was a happy weekend. Juha had exams the week before and had studied really hard. The weekend was the first weekend Juha didn't have to study and we could do something nice together. On Friday we went to a party Juha's school had organized. It was in a club just around the corner and we had a lot of fun.  To see everyone so happy was really nice.. It seems like the Chiropractic program is not easy and the teachers demand a lot from their students.

On Saturday we went to High Park. It is a huge park in the West of the city and really beautiful. Let the pictures speak for themselves.

In the evening we were invited to a potluck dinner. Everyone brought something to eat: appetizers, tortillas and the best homemade cakes as desert ever. Our host John gave us a great guitar performance and once again we had a great time.

We wish everyone a happy weekend this weekend as well!