Spending Christmas in Finnish Lapland

Sooooo... big news!  We've been quite busy these past few weeks trying to plan out an itinerary for our Christmas and New Years vacation.  And just last night, we finally got things figured out enough that we bought a ticket!

We are heading to Finland (specifically, Finnish Lapland) to visit Michael's sister, who has been in Kuusamo, Finland since October, playing professional volleyball for Kuusamon Pallo-Karhut (PaKa).  Clearly she is a good addition to their team -- they've been undefeated since she joined!

We are renting a log cabin in the woods near Ruka, a ski resort north of Kuusamo.  I'm looking forward to husky sled rides, visiting an ice hotel, seeing an igloo, eating arctic berries, petting some reindeer, getting a traditional vihta massage and sauna, and, last but not least, viewing the Northern Lights.  Oh yeah, and we will be skiing too.  The lack of sunlight in such northern latitudes during the winter may be a challenge.  We will likely only be seeing 3 or 4 hours of sun a day.  I hope it doesn't leave us feeling too blue.

On our way into Finland, we have a nearly 20 hour layover in Moscow.  We plan to leave the airport to see the Red Square and Kremlin.  Is there a land more enchanting and intriguing than Russia?  I'm trying to learn the Cyrillic alphabet before our trip:

А Б В Г Д Ђ Е Ж З И Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О П Р С Т Ћ У Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш

The letters are fun to learn and provide a nice complement to the backdrop of snow, fur hats, bottles of vodka, tins of caviar and stone-faced KGB figures that are currently flitting through my head.  I hope I ultimately learn more than just "da," "net" and "spasibo".

We are still working out ideas for the second half of the trip.  Spending some time in Helsinki, or making a side trip to St. Petersburg, are very strong contenders.  This holiday trip promises to be very interesting, exciting, and different.  And COLD.  I can't wait!