Sault hockey mom becomes an international TV star

EDITOR'S NOTE: You'll remember this time last year, SooToday.com published a nice letter from Tammy Aalto, better known around Sault Ste. Marie as Tammy Hunter.

Tammy (shown with her Sault-raised children Jacob and Austin and her husband Tuomas Aalto) talked last December about spending Christmas in her new home in Finland, and about how much she missed the Sault, especially Tim Horton's coffee.

Well, Tammy sent us an update this week.

She's been doing the same old Finnish hockey mom-stuff, like appearing in frequently in newspapers and books and museum exhibitions and on national television broadcasts!

If you don't believe us, click here to see Tammy earlier this month on national Finnish TV, telling everyone there what great coffee we have at the Sault's Tim Horton's outlets. (You'll have to to wait a bit - she appears about three minutes into the broadcast.)

SooToday.com was so moved by Tammy's homesick tale of Timmy's deprivation that we called the Tim Horton's head office.

The nice people there were similarly moved and they offered to send the Aaltos a special care package including a few cans of Tammy's favourite coffee and some Tim Horton's travel mugs.

Here's Tammy's latest letter home:

********************** We are still living here in Finland but decided to take a Christmas break to the beaches of Miami Beach, Florida this year.

Everyone has to at least once in their life escape the cold and dark of Northern Christmases.

Speaking of missing Tim Horton's last year, I was contacted by our local museum here in Salo, Finland where I live just shortly after you ran my SooToday story last Christmas.

They asked myself and my boys, Jacob and Austin, to take part in an exhibition about all the different cultures here in this small city of Salo.

The reason the city of Salo decided to do this exhibition was because we have a population of 25,000 people in Salo. During the week that number swells to almost 50,000 because of all the people coming in to Salo to work at Nokia.

But living in Salo, out of the small population we have, there are 56+ different cultures here.

Out of the 56, 46 cultures were highlighted in this exhibition.

Out of those 46, 26 cultures were highlighted in a book.

They asked me to talk about something that is truly Canadian and really means something to me.

For those of you who have to wonder what I might have said or spoke about, then you forget what my passion was when in Canada - Tim Horton's coffee!!

We (personally Jacob, Austin and I) have been in all kinds of newspapers and TV programs because this is such a unique exhibition and we are one of the lucky chosen ones to be part of a book they are publishing about this exhibition.

They said my "item" to speak about was unique because it has no "religious" or "historical" sentiment, it was light-hearted and fun and the reason I am in Finland is because I chose to be and like being here.

Many participants of this exhibition where fleeing war-torn countries or suppressed countries. Many artifacts shown go back generations and generations and are very serious and in some cases sad.

And then you come to our picture and story and it is of us, my coffee mug and Tim Horton's.

It seems to be an exhibition favorite that is why we are always highlighted in newspapers and TV.

I have received a copy of the book being published about this exhibition.

It was a lot of fun and nothing I really thought so big but when I got a call from Sweden this morning from my Swedish customers telling me they saw me on their news program this morning, that my exhibit was highlighted, and after clipping a few newspapers where the boys and my pictures are shown and calls from all over saying they saw us in the news, a few times now, I guess it was a bigger deal than I thought.

Well, nobody can tell me, Tim Horton's is NOT a big deal and it deserves the spotlight.

Jeeze, I am one big walking poster for Tim Horton's!

Somebody contact them and tell them I expect some Tim Bits in the mail, at least!

Then, the very next day after being on the Finnish national news, I am reading the SooToday on line (which I read faithfully daily), while having lunch and I see Tammy Hunter - wanted.

I have to admit I was a bit thrown.

Below is a link to a TV News program here in Finland.

Myself and my boys Jacob and Austin are in it.

It was played here in Finland 15.12.04.

It takes a bit until we come on the broadcast but we are there.

Please note you must chose what media you want to play this clip on and how fast your Internet connection is.

http://www.yle.fi/yle24/videosali/index.php?a=10&t=1&q=3

Have a wonderful Christmas and I just wanted to share this fun part of our life with you.

I'll see my Soo friends and family next year!!!! Can't Wait!!

Love you all! Big warm hugs!

Tammy

xo xo xo xo

******************** The above message from Southern Finland is one of many special greetings that SooToday.com will be publishing over the holidays from expatriate Saultites.

If you're a former resident now living 200 or more kilometres away, we'd be delighted to post your message and photo.

For details, click here.