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Christmas dinner
24 Dec 2019 11:01 pmWe went to Wax's aunt's for Christmas Eve, which is the main xmas celebration in Finland; normally we'd have had it with just her mom this year (in-law year for her brothers), so it was nice to not be home alone and depressed. Actually, Wax has been depressed (extra depressed?) and didn't really want to leave the house at all, but I thought it would be nice, and a good distraction. And it was, more than I expected, I think - and Wax went so far as to indicate she is not still sorry that we went, so I guess it surpassed her expectations too.
There was an infant there - Wax's aunt's ex-husband's partner's - and while I find human babies cute (like all baby animals although maybe marginally less cute than the fuzzier ones, but still definitely cute), Wax doesn't really like babies and I was expecting maybe some noisiness or crying. But her cousins' little step-brother is a pretty calm and happy baby, and he was extra entertaining because whenever he frowns he looks like Marlon Brando as the Godfather, and he was frowning in concentration a lot. The whole meal was very relaxing: nice wine, entertaining conversations that had me crying with laughter at one point, everybody loved my fudge (as always) and I introduced five more Finns to white chocolate pretzels ("I have to start making these" "I take it back: pretzel sticks are NOT useless"); even sitting by while other people opened their presents from each other was pretty chill - Wax and I cuddled in an armchair and she read Twitter while I did some Duolingo on mute, and they all went out of their way to give us presents (tea, honey, handmade candles) so we wouldn't feel left out, after telling us not to bring anything but the homemade candy!, and then we ate homebaked gingerbread and played a board game, which used to be my favorite part of Christmas dinners before Wax's siblings had kids.
There was an infant there - Wax's aunt's ex-husband's partner's - and while I find human babies cute (like all baby animals although maybe marginally less cute than the fuzzier ones, but still definitely cute), Wax doesn't really like babies and I was expecting maybe some noisiness or crying. But her cousins' little step-brother is a pretty calm and happy baby, and he was extra entertaining because whenever he frowns he looks like Marlon Brando as the Godfather, and he was frowning in concentration a lot. The whole meal was very relaxing: nice wine, entertaining conversations that had me crying with laughter at one point, everybody loved my fudge (as always) and I introduced five more Finns to white chocolate pretzels ("I have to start making these" "I take it back: pretzel sticks are NOT useless"); even sitting by while other people opened their presents from each other was pretty chill - Wax and I cuddled in an armchair and she read Twitter while I did some Duolingo on mute, and they all went out of their way to give us presents (tea, honey, handmade candles) so we wouldn't feel left out, after telling us not to bring anything but the homemade candy!, and then we ate homebaked gingerbread and played a board game, which used to be my favorite part of Christmas dinners before Wax's siblings had kids.
