Marraskuussa talviloma tuntuu vielä kaukaiselta, mutta joulu on jo mielessä.

Because it is in the inessive case, which often means in.

• marraskuu = November
• marraskuussa = in November

The ending -ssa / -ssä is very common in Finnish for being inside a time period, place, or state.

Examples:

• kesäkuu → kesäkuussa = in June
• talo → talossa = in the house

So Marraskuussa means In November.

Yes. It sets the time frame for the whole first clause:

• Marraskuussa talviloma tuntuu vielä kaukaiselta
• In November, winter vacation still feels far away

Finnish often places time expressions near the beginning of the sentence. This is very natural and common.

Here talviloma is the subject of the verb tuntuu, so it appears in the nominative basic form.

• talvi = winter
• loma = vacation / holiday
• talviloma = winter vacation

In this clause:

• talviloma = the thing that feels a certain way
• tuntuu = feels
• kaukaiselta = far away / distant

So talviloma is simply the subject: winter vacation feels...

Tuntuu is from the verb tuntua, which means to feel, to seem, or to appear depending on context.

Here it means something like:

• feels
• seems

So:

• talviloma tuntuu vielä kaukaiselta = winter vacation still feels far away

This verb is very often used in Finnish for subjective impressions.

Examples:

• Se tuntuu hyvältä. = It feels good.
• Ajatus tuntuu oudolta. = The idea feels strange.

Because the verb tuntua often requires the thing being felt or perceived to be in the ablative case form -lta / -ltä when using adjectives.

So:

• kaukainen = distant, remote
• kaukaiselta = as distant / from a distant-feeling perspective

With tuntua, Finnish commonly uses this pattern:

• Se tuntuu hyvältä. = It feels good.
• Työ tuntuu vaikealta. = The work feels difficult.
• Talviloma tuntuu kaukaiselta. = Winter vacation feels far away.

This is a very useful structure to memorize:

• tuntua + adjective in -lta / -ltä

Vielä here means still.

So:

• talviloma tuntuu vielä kaukaiselta = winter vacation still feels far away

It suggests that, at this point in time, the vacation has not yet started to feel close.

Depending on context, vielä can also mean yet, even, or more, but here still is the best interpretation.

Mutta means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• talviloma tuntuu vielä kaukaiselta = winter vacation still feels far away
• joulu on jo mielessä = but Christmas is already on one’s mind

So the contrast is:

• the winter holiday feels distant,
• but Christmas is already being thought about.

Because joulu is the subject of the second clause:

• joulu on jo mielessä

Literally:

• joulu = Christmas
• on = is
• mielessä = in the mind

So joulu is just the thing being talked about: Christmas is already on the mind.

As in English, Finnish month names and holiday names are often used without an article, so there is no separate word for the here.

Jo means already.

So:

• joulu on jo mielessä = Christmas is already on the mind = People are already thinking about Christmas

It adds the idea that this is happening sooner than one might expect, or that it has begun by now.

Compare:

• Joulu on mielessä. = Christmas is on the mind.
• Joulu on jo mielessä. = Christmas is already on the mind.

Mielessä comes from mieli, which means mind.

The form mielessä is the inessive case:

• mieli = mind
• mielessä = in the mind

So joulu on jo mielessä literally means:

• Christmas is already in the mind

In natural English, this becomes:

• Christmas is already on one’s mind
• People are already thinking about Christmas

This is a very common Finnish expression.

Examples:

• Se on mielessäni. = It is on my mind.
• Asia on jatkuvasti mielessä. = The matter is constantly on my mind.

Because the subject joulu is singular.

• joulu = Christmas
• on = is

Finnish verbs agree with the subject in person and number. Since joulu is singular, the verb is singular too.

Yes. It usually does not mean that Christmas is physically inside someone’s mind in a literal sense. It is an idiomatic way to say:

• Christmas is already on people’s minds
• People are already thinking about Christmas

Finnish often uses expressions with cases very literally on the surface, but the real meaning can be idiomatic.

The given word order is very natural, but Finnish word order is more flexible than English word order.

The sentence:

• Marraskuussa talviloma tuntuu vielä kaukaiselta, mutta joulu on jo mielessä.

is neutral and smooth. It starts with the time expression, then gives the first idea, then the contrast.

Some word order changes are possible for emphasis, but they may sound marked or shift the focus.

For example:

• Joulu on jo mielessä is the neutral order.
• Jo joulu on mielessä would sound more emphatic and less neutral.

So yes, word order can change in Finnish, but the original version is a very natural default.

Finnish has no articles, so there is no direct equivalent of a, an, or the.

That means words like:

• talviloma
• joulu

can mean:

• winter vacation
• the winter vacation
• Christmas
• the Christmas season

depending on context.

Finnish relies on context much more than English does for this.

It most often refers to a winter holiday/vacation period, especially the kind of scheduled break people talk about seasonally. In many contexts in Finland, it can strongly suggest the school or family winter break period, but the exact nuance depends on context.

So a learner can usually understand it broadly as:

• winter vacation
• winter holiday

The important thing in this sentence is the contrast:

• winter vacation still feels far away,
• but Christmas is already being thought about.