Page 72 of A Winter in Wonderland
Chapter 33
I loveNew Year’s Eve. For me, this is the anti-Christmas, and my night to shine. I know it’s a cliché to be all ‘new year, new you’ but I don’t mean that I change a lot about myself come January the first, it’s more that, for me, the end of the year is a fresh start. I like to wear sparkles, drink fizz, dance all night, whirl sparklers in the air, kiss people at midnight, the whole shebang. Basically, take all the fun other people have had at their Christmas parties throughout December and channel it into this one night.
So when I heard that, unlike at Christmas, the staff of Love Adventuring Lapland wouldn’t be working beyond mid-evening and that Daan and the management were letting us have a celebration at the staff lodge, I was excited. I wassparkling.
‘What are some New Year’s traditions in Finland?’ I asked Esteri when we were back in our room after sharing our last glass of sparkling wine with guests and now wereready to be left to our own devices. And open more sparkling wine.
Esteri was adjusting her boobs inside her sequin-covered sweatshirt, frowning down at them like they were doing something wrong. ‘Do they look like two disco balls in this top?’ she asked, ignoring my question.
‘No,’ I laughed. ‘They’re wonderful, you look amazing.’
‘Oh. I was hoping for disco balls, haha! Um, Finnish New Year’s traditions, let me see … Well, first of all you need to say “Hyvää uutta vuotta!” when the clock hits midnight – that’s Happy New Year.’
It took a few tries of me attempting to twist my tongue around the words before Esteri rolled her eyes and said, ‘Good enough. Now, what else. We used to melt tin and then put it in cold water and see what shape it solidifies into, and use that to tell our future.’
I blinked. ‘Are you just messing with me?’
She laughed. ‘I’m really not. Though tin is now banned so we won’t do it this year. Let me think if there are any more and come back to you.’
I slid my delicate, dangly earrings into my lobes, watching as the gems danced against the low lighting. Since we were staying around the lodge tonight, being both inside and out as we’d be lighting a campfire, I was dressing in warm layers as opposed to my usual I’m-going-to-get-my-sweat-on-dancing NYE outfit. I was wearing a blue velvet top with a heavy, fluffy, soft grey cardigan draped over the top and some jeans. I’d crumpled my hair into waves and was feeling excited, not just from the fizz. Kind of from the fizz.
‘You know what’s cool?’ Esteri said, coming beside me to look in the mirror. ‘I sent a message to my Lapland family and they came straight back to ask me if I wanted to come and stay with them after we’ve finished working here at the end of January.’
‘That is cool,’ I replied, and Esteri looked pleased.
‘You look lovely,’ she said, admiring me in the mirror. ‘Very cute. I’m sure Josh would agree.’
‘Shut up,’ I laughed. ‘You look lovely too. Disco ball boobs especially. I’m sure the husky men would agree.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, giving them a wriggle.
All dolled up, we went downstairs, where the New Year’s celebrations were already flowing. It was a couple of hours until midnight, so Esteri and I grabbed a glass of bubbles, courtesy of Love Adventuring Lapland, and spent a while mingling, dancing a little in the living room and making merry.
‘Shall we light the campfire?’ someone called, just as I’d finally spotted Josh, chatting with Angelique on the other side of the room.
Esteri took my hand and raised it in the air. ‘This girl makes a mean campfire,’ she declared, louder than usual with a little alcohol in her system.
‘No, I don’t,’ I protested, pulling my arm down.
‘Yes, you do, Josh told me,’ she said, which threw me for a moment, like she probably anticipated. Nevertheless, she dragged me outside and started bundling my arms with kindling, causing little damp patches on my rather thin velvet top. Thank God for this thick cardigan.
‘All right, I’ll do it, but only because it’s freezing out here.’
While I was assembling the fire, acutely aware that people were relying on me and watching me, and I hoped I wouldn’t be about to ruin New Year’s, the party started to move outside. Someone brought me out my dad’s coat, someone else gave me a drink top-up. Then a speaker was brought out and hooked up to a phone so the music could fill the cold air. My co-workers were filtering out and taking seats on the logs around the firepit, bringing with them cushions and blankets from inside.
Josh came out of the chalet, with Angelique. He came towards me and because I hadn’t spoken to him all night, and I’d had a couple,ahem, of glasses by this point, I wasn’t really thinking and greeted him by throwing my arms around him. ‘Hi, happy new year!’ I enthused, and as I pulled away, he left his hands on my back for a moment, grinning down at me.
‘Happy new year to you too,’ he laughed, unused to me being so openly affectionate, I guess.
There weren’t many seats left by this point, so he moved to the other side of the campfire from where I stood.
‘You know, Myla,’ Esteri said, her voice calling across the chatter.
I looked up to see her standing behind Josh.
‘There’s a New Year’s tradition here in Finland that I forgot to tell you about earlier. If someone lights a fire in the first try on New Year’s Eve, they will be lucky in love.’ She stood beaming, her hands on her hips, not-subtly angling her eyes down towards Josh.
‘Is that so?’ I said, unsure if she was pulling my leg, and hoping my blush didn’t show in the dark.
