The Laboratory

We love travelling and as a result we love other countries' National Days. Canada of course has Canada Day (or in fact a whole weekend!) and Canadian Thanksgiving, as well as a national day that has different names in every province (confusing). But today we celebrate Finnish Independence Day. It's now 101 years since the plucky Finns withdrew from Russian rule in 1917. As usual, Sarah and I attended the Finnish Christmas Fair in London last month, though sadly got there too late to see the Moomin. We still spent FAR too much money on Fazer chocolates and Fazer jellies and Fazer ... well, you get the idea!

This year was an exciting one at the Finnish Christmas Fair in London. It's 100 years since Finland gained independence and there are lots of celebrations. You could buy Finland-shaped cookie cutters that said "100", and special edition sweets (mainly liquorice, a Finnish favourite). It was also a great chance to meet a genuine Moomin, and buy some Doris biscuits. Bonus Advent Calendar of the day: For those of you who love The Box Of Delights, the Bodleian Library has devoted their calendar this year to a whole range of eclectic items linked with the book and series: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/advent2017

Here's a find from the Finnish Christmas Fair we visited in November. All the Scandi fairs are great, with present ideas and food and drink gifts galore.

If you're a fan of Christmas specials, then McDonalds has a real treat for you. Instead of the usual "Festive Pie", this year they have introduced the "Chocolatey Banoffee Pie". Delicious! And if you're after something a bit more traditional, why not try a Marzipan Pig? This delicious paste of almond, milk and sugar is the most common shape for a Nordic Christmas and is usually the prize for whoever finds the hidden almond nut in the Christmas rice porridge. Yes, they hide nuts in porridge!

Finnair (one of our favourite airlines, of course) has a new plane in its fleet, the Airbus A350, and on their website you can see photos of it being constructed. This one caught our eye, a Finn fin!

Welcome to this year's Advent Calendar! We hope you have had a good year and are ready to celebrate with us, as we look at Christmas traditions and some of the more oddball ideas that people have had for the festive season. We'd love to know what Advent Calendar you and your family have at home this year. Sarah got Adam a Thorntons calendar, because it's all about the chocolate! Adam got Sarah a reindeer calendar from Tiger (a Danish store) and as a memento of our Finnish holiday, we have a Helsinki Museum street scene to open every day and find out about how the Finns have done Christmas through the ages. Tomorrow we'll feature some of the Advent Calendars our friends have bought. Why not tell us about yours in the comments?

Every year we love to spend our time (and our pennies) at the fantastic fairs run by Scandinavian churches in London. Do join us buying food, drink, gifts and decorations from our Scandi friends! Swedish Church Christmas Fair Location: Ulrika Eleonora Parish Church, 6 Harcourt Street, London, W1H 4AG website for further information: http://www.swedishchurch.com 2012: Thursday 22 November 11.00-20.00 Saturday 24 November 11.00-18.00 Sunday 25 November 12.00-17.00 Norwegian Christmas Bazaar (Julebasar) Location: St. Olav's Church, 1 St Olav's Square, Albion Street, Rotherhithe, London SE16 7JB websites for further information: http://www.scanevents.co.uk/christmasmarket/index.html http://www.norway.org.uk/News_and_events/culture/Christmas-Events/Annual-Norwegian-Christmas-Fair/ (not yet updated for 2012) 2012 Friday 23 November - 11am to 7.00pm Saturday 24 November - 10.30am to 6.00pm Sunday 25 November - 10....