How's it going? I'm having a mellow Saturday. Just relaxing, reading magazines and knitting. Maybe I will also bake few more gingerbread cookies because we already ate the ones I baked couple weeks ago. Jinx also needs doggie biscuits.
Before I start baking again, I want to share few pictures of Finnish winter time snow and ice lanters. I didn't think these are anything special because my family has always made these for xmas and winter, plus these are very common in Finland in general, but my one American friend had read about the snowball lanterns somewhere and she was asking me questions about them.
I explained her what they are, and then I thought I probably should make a post about them too, so everyone can read about the Finnish tradition of turning snow and ice into something illuminating (*smile*).
You can make either snow or ice lanterns. The ice one is prepared by putting a bucketful of water outside (as long as the temperature is under 0C/ 32F) or in the freezer. Then it is left to freeze up for few hours. You need to check that the water doesn't freeze all the way. You only want it to freeze on the bottom, top and the sides. The middle needs to stay liquid. Once the water has frozen enough, you make a hole on the top and pour the rest of the water out. Then you will just need to slide out the block of ice and place it outside. Only thing left to do is to light a candle inside the lantern. Enjoy!
My sister made 10 ice lanterns couple years ago for Christmas. They looked so pretty!
Close up...
This is the snowball lantern. These are easy to make! You just have to have snow that packs, then you make a bunch of snowballs and arrange them like an iglu. Just don't put the snowballs too close to each other because you want to be able to see the candle light through the cracks. Here's one that my brother had made last weekend for his son's birthday party. It was a very welcoming feeling to come to their home when you saw this cute lantern waiting for you on their yard.
Right now all the snow has turned into slush because it is so warm. No more making any kind of lanterns. I hope we still will have a white Christmas though... 6 more days till Christmas eve. I will keep you posted. Have a nice Saturday!
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