Cimorene

i was so baffled by the lack of applesauce too! i kept asking and kept asking and finnish people kept saying, "do you mean apple jam?" but the apple jam they make here is heavily sweetened and flavoured with cinnamon and it's also totally a homemade thing (and runnier than applesauce), and you can't buy it in supermarkets. but according to my finnish friends buying jam in the store is relatively weird too. like people do do it when they have to but for the most part outside of the giant cities it's considered inferior. chi said she says guilty when she doesn't make her own jam. o.O oh well, it's, um, a pretty rural place still, overall. the first year here, i bought apple-pear babyfood to eat on the latke, but it wasn't right either, alas. :/

the whole secret santa thing sounds like a really good idea. wax's family is a lot smaller than my extended family, and the circle of people to buy gifts for is just five for each couple (her mother, two brothers and their wives).