Anna's Christmas Calendar 2025

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I almost cannot believe it.

A whole year has once again gone by. And what a year it has been! Yes, yes, I sound like it is the New Year already, which it is not, but I still cannot help but wonder where all this time is going. Just now, I moved to my current apartment. Which was right after my summer vacations, which was just a bit after the Christmas holidays ended… You get the idea.

But December, and my favourite time of the year, is finally here again. I, of course, had already begun Christmas activities even before this (like listening to Christmas music, I confess), but it is just not the same. I have wondered many times what it is about this season that feels so magical to me still in adulthood. I get that, as a child, I liked it for the presents and all the fun events close to Christmas. As an adult, gifts have lost their purpose a bit since you can make decisions on your budget yourself. There are events, of course, but I feel like they are not it.

Whatever the reason is, I am glad this happy season is in the middle of the darkest time of the year; I feel like otherwise it would be unbearable to get through the winter!

For a person who is not so into tight schedules and traditions of any kind, I have tons of traditions of my own for the Christmas season. One of the most important began today: the Advent calendar of the Finnish Scouts. As a person who has sold them myself earlier, when I was still more active in the organization, and to whom scouting has been an important hobby since childhood, getting the calendar every year is a must.

This year, it was sold to me by the daughter of a dear friend’s. Thank you so much for making this tradition possible for me again! <3

At work, we had quite a comparison of calendars today. There are so many kinds nowadays, and for people of all ages! If I am completely honest, I was a bit envious of my workmate, who had invested in the Elovena porridge calendar. It is because I eat porridge a lot for breakfast, but I still prefer cooking my own, so buying and expensive calendar would be waste.

In addition to my physical calendar, to celebrate the beginning of the season (and maybe because I am feeling famished after the coarse training this week), I just had to bake something nice and sweet. I have craved carrot cake so much for months now, so I finally decided it was time to give in and make some. And damn, that pastry is really one of the most delicious in the whole world. It also fits in with the start of the Christmas season since it is flavoured with cinnamon—just like gingerbread!

1. Whip the eggs and sugar.
2. Combine the dry ingredients of the base in a bowl.
3. Add the dry ingredients, shredded carrot, and butter to the whipped egg-sugar mixture in small batches and mix well.
4. Pour into an oven tray (medium-sized!) covered with baking paper and bake at 200°C for 30 minutes.
5. Whip the room-temperature butter and the cream cheese. Add powdered sugar.
6. Add frosting to a cooled-down cake and add crushed hazelnuts on top.

I once again used the recipe I found a few years ago that has been proven absolutely delicious. I was expecting a huge success because of that, but in the end, I failed spectacularly. The recipe clearly stated that the batter requires a medium-sized tray, and I used the large one. The cake tastes still good but is way thinner than it should be.

As much as I hate this screw-up, the cake still tasted good. Thus, I will happily start my weekend and wish all my readers an amazing December!