Three months until Christmas...

... and it's time to decide what to do. If I could have my way I would go to a Christmas market in Munich and spend Christmas with my family. Everything would be covered in snow and and the snowflakes would twinkle in the witer sun. There would be a snowman in the garden and a lot of candles. The New Year's at some fancy place with delicious food and champagne and beautiful clothes.

Reality check. There's a crisis going on so let's forget about Munich. The climate change has been so radical that a white Christmas is rarer than one that is pitch black. And I don't really drink.

Maybe next year?

Anyway, this topic came up yesterday when I spoke to my father on the phone: my brother would rather spend Christmas with our cats than come to Spain. That is a problem because one of my core principles in life is quite silly but not negotiable: I will not spend Christmas without my family. I was 19 when I moved abroad and I spend very little time with my family as it is, so Christmas is one of the few occasions that I can actually see them.

Christmas for me is made of delicious food (and it has to be Finnish), a big Christmas tree stolen from the neighbours, lots of decorations, cuddling with the cat, reading good books, talking to my mum for hours, candles and Santa Lucia, wearing a funny hat, listening to Christmas carrols on the radio, going to church and the smell of gingerbread. No matter how much I like paella, it is not part of that equation. Last year my family came to Valencia, and we had a good time eating Finnish food and listening to strange music.

So this year? The options are few but straightforward: start looking for plane tickets now and try to get the holidays sorted somehow (mine start on December 24 which is a bit too late considering how complicated it is to get to the island). Use the force that only big sisters are allowed to use. No Christmas at all.