No snow for snowman this Christmas?

Last night was the final class of my Finnish language course for the autumn term. Our topic was mostly about Finnish Christmas, which was really informative and entertaining. We even had free warm glögi (mulled wine) and piparit (gingerbread cookies). In Finland, both are usually associated with Christmas. 

Here's one of the things I learned. Although sometimes, some people think that Finnish Christmas is an unhappy occasion, Finns themselves generally say that Christmas is a happy and cheerful as well as a peaceful festivity.  The peaceful side is exemplified for instance by the joulurauhan julistus (Declaration of Christmas Peace) held in Turku on Christmas Eve, sauna (also sauna), joulukyntillät (Christmas candles), and lumilydyt (snow lanterns). 

A snow lantern, lumilyhty in Finnish, is formed by stacking balls of snow in circular layers to build a hollow structure, such us a dome, where a lighted candle is placed inside. After explaining lumilyhty, my Finnish teacher asked if we've ever made a lumiukko (snowman) before, which in my case, the answer is still a big no. She gave a comment that if we haven't, we won't need the skill anyway because there is no snow this winter, unfortunately. This caught my attention for the reason that I myself had been wondering why there is so little snow when it's already December and why the weather is still quite the same as that of November last winter. At least two weeks before this class, I was already enlightened with the fact that last year, winter just came much earlier than normal and that there were more snow than usual. But then, now it appears there's much less snow than there should be at this time of the season, not even enough for a lumiukko. It makes me feel somewhat lucky to have witnessed the previous Finnish winter. For the first time, I trudged in deep snow and had a white Christmas. That was my first experience of winter! Anyway, it's still winter at least until March. Surely one of these days I'll have my chance to see if I can make a lumiukko of my own.

The following photos where taken on Dec. 12, 2010. The temperature then was below -20°C. This week temperatures here still fluctuate above and below 0°C.