JouluTarina
By Moya Serena Brennan
E
very winter in Rovaniemi, Finland, snow begins to fall. With it, falls the spirits of a snowman and snowwoman. Snow piles up in front of the grandest evergreen tree to create the snow lovers’ bod-
ies and the spirits get planted into them to give them life. When they first were created, they were given two beautiful Irish names; Tierney and Luan. Each year, they fell in love with each other more and more. 12
The animals of the forest come together to decorate the snow lovers with clothes and give them eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth. The badgers would unbox knitted jumpers with wooden buttons, scarves and hats that were made especially for them to keep them bundled up. When the clothes with such a soft cosy feel to the touch, were placed on the snow lovers, it gives them the ability to feel emotions. The rabbits would donate their finest carrots for their noses so they could smell the pine trees and Christmas baking and be reminded of all the Christmases before. The hedgehogs would use their noses to search for nuts that had fallen from the trees and been buried under the snow. These would be placed on the snow lover’s faces as their mouths, always in a smile, to gift them the ability to speak their thoughts. The brown bears with their precise hearing, would go to the rivers, which had the beautiful sound of running water and collect unusually curved stones for their ears. The robins would use their sharp eyes to spot the perfect black stones and then polish them so that they reflect the world. These would give the snow lovers the ability to see, but before placing the eyes on Tierney and Luan’s faces, the animals decorate the evergreen tree to transform it into the most dazzling Christmas tree. This way, when the snow lovers open their eyes, the first thing they would see would be the most beautiful tree.
