Dec 25th

Phil spent a restful Christmas morning with his family. Suzy was super excited by the glass toys she got from Joulupuuki and even more excited when she found out that Phil made them!

Dec 24th

Phil made it to St Louis to spend Christmas Eve with the Tetris!

Dec 23rd

Phil brought a beautiful glass salmon to his puffin lady friend.

Dec 22nd

Phil spent a long day making beautiful glass toys for kids, and finished up the toy list for Christmas!

Dec 21st

By 11 pm, Joulupukki had to come and tell Phil that he HAD to stop working for the evening. Phil had finally found his career.

Dec 20th

Phil got to the glass blowing studio in the morning and a present was waiting for him! He unwrapped it and discovered a penguin shaped cooler, with holes for his flippers! Now glass blowing wouldn't be so bad!

Dec 19th

Phil was proving to be a true glass blowing genius, and absolutely loving it! Unfortunately, he was pretty sure he was actually melting. 

Dec 18th

Joulupukki came to Phil in the morning that some of the tontut were sick! They desperately needed help in the glass blowing studio. Phil reluctantly agreed.

Dec 17th

Phil spent the day building storage igloos. At least it was cool....

Dec 16th

Phil revealed his spectacular doll clothes line: 18th century French Court, with a marine twist. The tontut made a unanimous decision that Phil was off clothing design.

Dec 15th

Phil spent the day drawing up designs for doll clothes. He kept his ideas very secret and all the tonttut wanted to know what he was planning!

Dec 14th

Turns out flippers and painting doll faces are not a great combination.

Dec 13th

Phil and Joulupukki sat down over coffee and salmon stew. (Phil is always reminded that Korvatunturi is a great place where salmon stew is a staple in the winter). Joulupukki had the idea that maybe Phil should try some jobs outside with the maintenance tonttut, or maybe in the stables helping with the reindeer. Phil always wanted to try making doll clothes and painting doll faces. 

[My wrist is bugging me, so today's doesn't get the full treatment! Back at it normal-style tomorrow -E]

Dec 12th

While Phil was decent in the woodshop, it just didn't seem like something he was great at. Nor too excited about. And, when you have feathers, splinters are even harder to get out. So Phil and Joulupukki decided to sit down the next day and come up with other jobs Phil could try.

Dec 11th

Phil spent the day helping the tonttut make wooden pull toys. Phil has a lot of experience helping Jake in the woodshop, and the tonttut were pleased to find he was decently skilled with a saw.

Dec 10th

Joulupukkin Vaimo wanted Phil to start work in the kitchen making korvapuustis for the tonttu. While Phil has often baked, spending an entire day in the hot kitchen wasn't for him. Eventually, Joulupukkin Vaimo decided maybe Phil shouldn't be a baker when he went missing and she found him in the fridge.

Dec 9th

Joulupukki and Joulupukkin Vaimo welcomed Phil with open arms, the promise of a job, and salmon stew.

Dec 8th

Phil went to visit his Puffin Lady Friend and Merimörkö (along with his wife and his 13 now VERY large children). Merimörkö couldn't believe Phil hadn't thought of the obvious! He would go to work at Korvatunturi!

Dec 7th

Phil sat down with Monkey and Stella to brainstorm jobs. Banana packager? Banana picker? Banana tree planting? Phil thought all their ideas sounded hot.

Dec 6th

After two hours of work, it was gently suggested to Phil that maybe he shouldn't return if he was planning to eat the entire stock every day....

Dec 5th

Phil went to the only place he could go with his expertise: the fish market. He brought his resume, passed the fish identification test with flying colors, and was hired to start the next morning.

Dec 4th

Phil sat down with Brent and Päivi for financial planning. Conclusion: he either needed to buy less fish or get a job.

Dec 3rd

Phil brought Päivi her birthday fish! (She was very kind and let him eat it, per usual). Phil lamented his financial woes to Päivi.

Dec 2nd

Two tonttu showed up to get Phil in the advent mood. They brought him fish christmas ornaments from Korvatunturi and took him to the fish market. Phil was worried about his almost empty wallet after he bought a few fish (okay, maybe it was more than a few...)

Dec 1st

Phil woke grumpy and irritable. There was no tingling in his toes. He didn't believe the fishes of the world calendar.

It didn't feel like advent.