The skier tells colorful Christmas memories.
– Christmas is the best party, says Ristomatti Hakola. Pasi Liesimaa
That Christmas Eve was so horrible that the cross-country skier Cross mat Hakola34, remembers the events like they were yesterday. It was the mid-1990s in Kankaanpää.
– In hindsight, it turned out that my father That’s right had accidentally ordered two Santa Clauses, Hakola recalls.
First, a white beard ordered from Maila in Kankaanpää entered the party. The business went as always: we sang to the goats, sat on our knees and distributed the packages.
Later on Christmas Eve, a neighbor wearing a red blanket came into the house Erkki.
– The second goat was a shock. I hid under my bed.
Neighbor Erkki was the scapegoat of the Hakola food court.
– The goat used to have my hockey stick as a stick. When the goat left, I asked my parents if it was the neighbor’s Erkki – the goat carried Erkki’s scent.
The goat visits didn’t go well.
– My father offered the goat conjamine. He raised his beard and threw the bang down his throat.
Hakola’s own gig in the 2000s also went down the drain.
– I was in the family of Inti’s manager. The family’s daughter just believed in the fairy tale character. The gig went well until I took off the heating beard in the yard. At that moment, the girl looked out the window and shouted that it was Ristomatti.
The Gospel by rote memory
A cross-country ski run on Christmas Eve has been a part of Ristomatti Hakola’s fun ever since he has been able to stay upright on skis. Pasi Liesimaa
In her childhood, Hakola had a ritual familiar to many Finnish nassikas: she surrounded approximately every product from the Children’s Big Toy Book.
– Every year I hoped for a Playstation, but I got the smallest Lego, Hakola describes.
– As a parent, I understood that toys are not exactly cheap. Soft packages were boring in my childhood, and I didn’t value long pants. Nowadays, underpants are the best gifts, says the man who is comfortable in long underwear.
Ristomat’s father, Tuomo Hakola, is a really energetic entrepreneur who sometimes couldn’t stand to stay in his business even on Christmas Eve.
– Father is a pretty tough talker. He hasn’t always been at the Christmas table, but in Kankaanpää shoveling snow.
Ristomatti, his mother and his older brother, eight years older than the skier, ate together.
– Mother has often built Christmas for us. He has been working hard to ensure that the conditions are the best possible. I’ve been waving two hands at the Christmas table, even though I’m not even a big Christmas food person.
During the holidays, the skier preferably slips Lindt chocolate balls into his mouth.
– In our family, the youngest always read the Christmas Gospel out loud. I know the text almost by heart.
Last skiing Christmas?
Snow brings Christmas to skiers. – It’s an absolute thing. Otherwise, you won’t get into the atmosphere, Ristomatti Hakola says. Pasi Liesimaa
In adulthood, professional skiing has dictated how to celebrate a skier’s favorite holiday.
– We prepared Lauri Lepistön with the 2020 Tour de Skille in Vuokatti’s alpine hut. Lauri brought a couple of peppers to the table on the eve. Then we went to sleep.
The anticlimax was that Hakola got sick and didn’t even make it to the Central European tour.
A year ago, the holidays were celebrated in Davos, Switzerland.
– It was a pretty great experience. A handsome place, the tracks were Diamond and the weather was great. It wasn’t the same as at home, but different, Hakola commented.
– We have talked with the hostess about spending Christmas every other year with her loved ones and mine every other year. The equation has not “quite” come true, he adds.
A year from now, the situation may be different if Hakola puts his skis in the bag. The situation is currently fifty-sixty.
Similar percentages apply to whether Hakolan and Evelina-spouse’s new detached house in Kauniainen for Christmas 2026.