Friday, December 24

This morning we drove to Munkkivuori for a PCR test that we need before we can board a flight to Dubai. After this I will have had one every month for the past four months.

The test takes the form of a drive-in set in the middle of an old-fashioned one-storey shopping mall where cars fill the roads for other reasons, such as using the shopping mall. The chaos that results seems a completely predictable result of the way someone has designed the process. Honking, shouting, bad tempers arise just as anyone could have predicted from one glance at the plans.

Eventually we get tested, park elsewhere to pay, walk back to complete the process, and leave.

Irma lays the Christmas table in the traditional manner, having spent hours yesterday and today making the traditional food. I photograph one place setting.

At 4 pm Irma’s mother will arrive and Christmas dinner will begin, and continue until none of us can eat anymore.