In the lack of sunlight, may I offer you an artificial moon? My city of Turku has a light show called Path of Light that goes along the river. Today, Sunday is the last day. This moon is on one of the bridges. This bridge is close to the city theatre, and they will be having The Adams Family musical next year in the Autumn, so it’s part of the path. The moon showed shadow figures once in a while. The Path of Light was last year, too, but I missed it then. It was a lovely evening walk in these dark times. A shame they don’t keep it longer. It was only for 4 days. It won’t replace the sunlight, but it would have been a little lighter outside.
My family has not had a real Christmas tree for decades. The last time we had one was probably in the 1990s. Too many spruce needles were on the floor, so we didn’t bother buying one. We used a small plastic one that my grandmother used to own. That’s the only Christmas tree I will have. I won’t stay home for Christmas anyway, so there is no point having one.
Instead of having a real tree at home, there is the official one in front of the local church. It’s not an unknown fact for the Finns, but for you who don’t know, the official Christmas tree has been a tradition since the 20th century. Every year, there’s a new one, and on January 13, it will be used for something else, so nothing will go to waste. Every city in Finland has one, but this tree is the most elegant. It also has a fresh scent that plastic trees don’t have. Going under a spruce tree feels like you’re in the woods. It’s not everywhere you can get under a Christmas tree, right?
It’s December, but it doesn’t look like it. If you want to see snow in Finland, you need to go up North. But then you will meet the darkness despite the snow. The sun doesn’t show in Lapland for a while because of the polar night. It’s right down austere if you’re not used to it. I think people who live in the South of Finland suffer more from it because they don’t know how to handle it the same way. Snow would make it less dark, but now it’s dull and depressing. It’s more about attitude. If you see darkness as bad and don’t see anything positive about it, you look at it incorrectly. You shouldn’t stop living just because it’s not light outside. The sun sometimes shows in the South of Finland, so it’s not always dark. There was snow in November, but it melted. The weather forecast predicted there would be snow this week, so that will be less austere.
Some people get depressed when it gets dark earlier, but I don’t mind. It’s cosy when you can sit inside with the lights on and do things you usually do. If I go outside, looking at people’s balconies with Christmas lights is nice. Then, the city has lights and decorations all over. If you complain about how grey and depressive things are, then it’s no wonder you feel depressed. Put on the lights and the candles. Listen to music, watch a movie and anything you fancy. Take a walk outside or take a car ride. Or maybe go to the shopping mall and look in the windows. You don’t need to buy happiness. If you look outside and think, “It’s so dark, ” don’t. It won’t be like that forever. When the darkness is over, you complain about it being too light. What is wrong with us? Nothing is ever good enough. Negative thinking is never good, so stay positive and find something good in everything. Have a cookie. Even the smallest thing can make you feel better. Things are only austere because you make them to be, so don’t. They can be simple if you want to.
In my world 