Thursday, December 24

Finns celebrate Christmas today, and leave tomorrow for more formal and sometimes religious parts of the festivities. We have enough food to feed ourselves for a month, but fortunately Irma’s mother will come to help us eat it.

I go to the toilet and notice that Irma has found Mister Hankey, the Christmas Poo and has put him exactly where he wants to go: next to the toilet paper.

We have had him for years and, if I remember correctly, Jack originally gave him to me as a Christmas present.

We will spend much of the day eating, and then we will settle down to watch some television programmes we will later deny ever knowing about.