PIKKU JOULU GALA - that's right, last friday we had a large pikkujoulu (lit. 'little christmas') party. pikkujoulus are very popular in finland (as christmas parties are in the states). ours was a 'formal' gala. we continued a tradition started by a couple of our friends a few years ago, apparently this was the fourth or fifth gala. we prepared for the party by having fish filets, cheese and crackers, chips, ginger bread, glogi (traditional nordic mulled wine), and homebrew (of course). we also went to the library and picked up a lot of older finnish music to provide a proper atmosphere. we had finnish tango (think argentine, but depressed and slower), waltz, and then some american swing music. after all 16 guests had arrived (yeah, apparently we've made some friends) there was a lot of eating, drinking and dancing. not many of my pictures turned out because of our lighting situation. we had no bright lights, all was light yellow or red tinted (via candles and lampshades). overall the ambience was very nice and adam and paul were pleased that we kept up the tradition. dressing up is a lot of fun in my opinion, i was able to rustle up a 3-piece grey pinstriped suit and a nice hat to go along with it. thrift stores are great...