When we share the traditions of our past with our children, we ensure that our heritage continues into the future. I have only ever had one white Christmas as an adult, and it was truly special. My family and I were living in a small country town in eastern Finland, just 60 kilometres from the…
Tag: family
Childhood Home
Written by Jaana M. H. JokinenTold by my mother, Mirja AnneliSeptember 1949, Kallio, Helsinki, Finland Slowly but surely, the days were growing colder and darker. School had started again, and autumn had arrived. I have always been a summer person, so even as an eight-year-old, I was not at all pleased by the changing season….
The Fire
Written by Jaana M. H. JokinenTold by my grandmother, Hilja MariaMarch 1913, Joroinen, Finland It was a cold early spring day in Joroinen, in Northern Savonia in the eastern part of Finland, where my family lived. Joroinen is often called the “Paris of Savonia”, because in the 1700s the noblemen there mainly spoke French. Even…
Second Chance
Be grateful for the life you have been given, and let that gratitude change how you live it. This year, I have found myself in circumstances I would not wish on anyone. Circumstances that have shaken me, humbled me, and brought me to a place of deep reflection. Yet it is often in life’s most…
Harvest Time
A simple life, lived close to nature and family, can give us more richness than modern comforts ever cold. I grew up in Helsinki, Finland, in what felt like a very typical Finnish way, with both a winter home and a summer home. When the end of May arrived, our family of six would leave…
This Moment
Being fully present is the closest we can come to holding on to what cannot last. I rose before the sun this morning and slipped out the door while the world was still half asleep. The birds were already awake, singing their bright hopeful songs into the dawn, sounding far more cheerful than I felt…
Afternoon Tea
We are each a bridge between the generations that came before us and those that come after us. I recently had my grandson stay for a couple of nights during the school holidays, and as always, the house seemed changed by his presence. It felt fuller somehow, livelier, warmer, threaded through with movement, laughter, questions,…
Music and Dance
We may never know how far one thoughtful gesture will travel through another person’s life. As a thoughtful Mother’s Day gift, my daughter took me last night to an evening of candlelight, music, and dance. It was one of those gifts that reaches far beyond the moment itself. My tired soul received it with gratitude…
My Son’s Wedding
A mother’s heart somehow holds both, the grown child standing before them and the little child remembered so clearly. My grandma taught me the love of proverbs, quotes, and sayings and used them often in her everyday speech. She would come up with all sorts, from funny to the serious, but every one of them…
My Dad, My Hero
There is deep tenderness in becoming the strength for someone who once was yours. I was told that when I came into this world, my father was especially glad that the baby placed into his arms was a little girl. I have often pictured that moment in my mind, my father looking down at me…
