B B B B R R R R R R R........

BABY IT IS

C O L D

OUTSIDE!!!!

-24C

As we headed up to the temple this morning, there was a beautiful FULL MOON positioned just perfectly over the temple. This was taken at about 7:30 a.m. When will be days begin to have a little daylight in them again!

When we finished working in the temple (there were only 2 sessions today because of the Holidays) we, along with the Michie's, headed to RUSTRAVEL in downtown Helsinki to get our Russian Visas, travel to and from, hotel, etc. Can't believe we were actually able to get all of this arranged in only one weeks time! And that we get to go to St. Petersburg in 3 short weeks! Just had to take one more picture of the temple....so pretty ...... and the sun is setting at 2:00 p.m. today!

It was sooooo BITTERLY COLD outside. Why did I not bring my hat!! Silly me! Kent took his gloves off and put them on my ears so they wouldn't freeze to death!! Kiitos Kent!

As we were taking the trolly to get there, we noticed just how pretty the big white LUTHERAN CHURCH was with all of the snow. If you look carefully you will notice that the STEPS HAD NOT BEEN SHOVELED!! They need Wayne to help them out!! He is great with the steps!

When we got back home I was checking e-mail, of course! I noticed the the GOOGLE 'thingie' had a variety of 'Around the World Christmas Celebrations' up! It was kind of cool!

We and the Michie's are headed up to LAHTI on December 24th to the KATAJA's PERHE to spend the day. Christmas is celebrated in a larger way on DECEMBER 24TH. We have a food assignment!........CARROT CASSEROLE....... to make. Two of them. So Barbara thought it would be fun to make it together and use the kitchens downstairs where we could work on cooking together......and wrapping presents that we are taking!

One of the main ingredients in this recipe is RIISIPUURO! Good stuff. However, it has to be cooked and stirred constantly for 45 minutes. NO cheating on this part because it will show up in the final product! Kent took his turn in stirring!

Then it was mixing it all together for the final product. We will bake it just before we leave on Friday morning. It has to bake for one-hour!

Barbara and I had fun wrapping the gifts to take with us. JOULUPUKKI (Santa) will give them out. Stay tuned on who that might be!

And a couple of shots around (inside and out) of the ASUNTOLA as we finished up and headed back up to our apartment.......we have sooooo much snow but it is beyond beautiful.....KAUNIS!

We are soooo going to miss this when we go home! Thanks goodness we have lots and lots and lots of picture to help remind us of our wonderful time here.