We have a pair of pink, plastic flamingos on our yard. They reside on the side of our house, where you can't exactly see them unless you decide to go around that way.

We first received those flamingos during the fall of 2013. A family friend of ours brought them over for us as a housewarming gift. According to him, you had to have a pair of pink flamingos on your yard. It was a MUST. Needless to say, my mother hated them. There was no way they would stay on her front yard. So eventually, they found a home on the side of our house.

Whether or not it was our family friend's intention to get that reaction from my mom, I thought it was hilarious. She laughed it off too, obviously. It was meant to be a joke, and it was very much like him. In fact, this family friend was someone I first meant on the fall after we moved to Charlotte. After a few months of being lost, he really made us - or me at least - feel home in this big new world. He had the most welcoming personality, the kind you don't meet too often. And he cared about so many people.

I specifically remember our first thanksgiving with him. I mean, we spent it shooting targets on his backyard by the lake, and eating so much food that you could've fed an army with it. The same repeated the next year. Not to mention the birthday cake he once got for my mom. The frosting said "hyvää syntymäpäiää". One letter missing made it all the better!

During the first few years in the States, we had formed a tradition with our new, crazy American family; to celebrate Thanksgiving the Southern way, and then celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve the Finnish way. However, the third year when this tradition was to happen, some unfortunate events came along.

Thanksgiving was spent a little differently, with old Finnish friends who had just moved to the United States. It was different and fun. Definitely more Finnish this way. And then it was already December.

A week before Christmas, we received bad news. Heaven had gained a new angel.

However, the flamingos are still there, on the side of our house. When I checked on them today, one of them seems to have sustained some kind of an injury, but hopefully he'll be back on his feet soon again. I'm not sure about my mother's current feelings on them, but I'm hoping that they will stay there, and watch over our house.

And, of course, bring that Southern redneck flare, that Mike was all about.