It was Christmas and New Year’s. And lots of holidays in between. They somehow passed by unnoticed. Partly because I—like many others this year, it seems—spent the last holidays of the year bedridden with illness. Phew.

I’m not good at being sick. I’m rarely sick. Or at least, I could say that before this year, but now that this year’s tally includes three fairly long colds, I might not dare to boast anymore.

Because I don’t have much history of being sick (something I’m slowly learning to be grateful for in a new way), I don’t know how to be sick. I can’t stand just sitting still and doing nothing. Thankfully, my body knows better than my mind and forces me to sleep more than ten hours a day until I’m healthy enough to handle activities again.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we spent Christmas in our new home in Kuusamo. In the cool 15-degree air of the log cabin, it was nice to wrap up in blankets on the couch under the glow of the Christmas tree lights, watching the blue darkness of the fell landscape through the window or endless Christmas movies on the screen E set up. We don’t have a television, so this setup really felt like a luxury, and I can honestly say I watched enough movies over Christmas to last the whole year.

During the brief moments of daylight, and whenever I felt well enough, we explored the surroundings of our new home on the kicksled, a gift from the Christmas elves. The blue-tinted kaamos landscape, buried in feather-soft new snow with candle-like spruces, was a lovely change from staring at the bright, colorful world of digital movies for days.

We returned home to Tunturi-Lappi for the New Year. The cabin was left to cool down on the fell under the snow for another winter before we move there permanently in the spring.

Even though the cabin doesn’t quite feel like home yet, leaving it behind did stir something. I guess I’m slowly getting used to the idea that this is going to be our own—hopefully long-term—home.

Just before the New Year, there was an exciting evening! In late autumn, I was asked to participate in movie nights organized by Taivasalla and GMC-Pictures. The team asked me to create a winter-themed short film to be shown at two movie nights. One was in mid-November in Helsinki, and the other just before the New Year in Ylläs. I attended the latter in person, with E and my lovely friend M as my support team. The support was much needed, as it was quite a nerve-wracking evening.

It was exciting, first of all, to see so many people in one place (I don’t often attend events), and secondly because my creation was being watched by all of them on a huge screen. I also spoke about the making of my film and answered a few questions afterward. Huge thanks to everyone who was there, and especially to the Taivasalla group and the GMC-Pictures team for inviting me to be part of such an amazing project.

My short film has so far only been shown at these two movie nights, but after that, I plan to make it publicly available on my YouTube channel once I’ve written the English subtitles. Unlike my usual style, the film was narrated in Finnish. I’ll let you know here when the film is available for everyone to see.

The movie night was sold out (incredible!), and the feedback and overall atmosphere were fantastic. Among my film, there were many freeride skiing movies and a few talks. I was particularly inspired by a talk from Marika Varpenius, who moved from Lappeenranta to Kilpisjärvi.

An incredibly admirable story—moving her family of four permanently from a city environment to the heart of Finland’s most arctic village, building a house in the coldest winter in Kilpisjärvi, and even founding her own business in a northern village of just one hundred people.

Marika has founded a new, incredibly beautiful, and meticulously crafted outdoor magazine called Luode. The articles feature new and inspiring outdoor stories paired with impossibly stunning photographs. We took home the first issue from the movie night, and I’ve been reading it slowly, savoring it and admiring it with wonder. This is what outdoor culture has needed.

And now for the unexpected happy news at the turn of the year. My photo exhibition at the Kittilä library ended at the turn of the year, and E and I went to take it down in the village of Kittilä, which was bursting with Christmas tourists. However, just a few days earlier, I had received an email from the Kolari library. They also wanted to host my exhibition. How wonderful!

The very next weekday morning, I drove the van to Kolari library and set up the exhibition on the next wall. I’m starting to feel like quite the seasoned pro with exhibitions now. The setup went at least twice as fast as the first time!

My photo exhibition will continue at least until the end of January in the Council Hall at the Kolari library. I plan to ask for an extension into February, so ski holiday travelers can also stop to admire the Kolari village and my photos before continuing their journey to the snowy fells and ski resorts.

I’d be so happy if you could visit my exhibition in January or February. And if you can’t, my small virtual photo shop is still up and running, sending pieces of the north—my photos from Tunturi-Lappi—across Finland and around the world. A big thank you to those who’ve already ordered photos and supported my small northern business. 💙

Here’s the link to my photo shop