Mo'a Romig-Boyles

Christmas Elve Number Thirteen...Kertasnikir...Candle-beggar

Kertasnikir.....Candle-beggar appears on Christmas Eve as the children wait in anticipation while their parents light the Christmas candles. When the family leaves the living room to get the children. Kertasnikir slips into the room and takes as many candles as he can carry.

The Jolasveinars and my project to count down to Christmas, by showing and talking about them each day, introducing their charming family, Gryla, Leppaludi and The Christmas Cat, has brought me more joy than I could ever have imagined.   Thank your for your visits and kind words.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Elve Number Twelve...Kjotkrokur...Meat-hook

Kjotkrokur.......Meat-hook jumps up on the roof and lowers his long meat hook down the chimney to snatch the Hangikjot, that is being cooked for Christmas Eve dinner.
When the household notices that the meat is gone, they give chase to meat hook, calling and screaming at the top of their lungs. Kjotkrokur is limber and fast. He quickly hides behind a big bolder and sits down to feast on the stolen meat.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Christmas Elve Number Eleven...Gattathefur...Door-sniffer

Gattathefur....Door-sniffer is number eleven. He has a nice big nose and remarkably he never gets a cold. He can smell the good smells of Christmas from afar. Today he can detect the lovely smell of Laufabraud and there is the fragrance of Hangikjot that hangs in the rafters. He tip-toes to the kitchen door, so that he can delight in all the good smells of Christmas cooking.
As he is standing there in ecstasy, the housewife walks by and startled by his presence screams. Gattathefur unperturbed smiles and raises his nose higher.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Christmas Elve Number Ten...Gluggagaegir...Window-peeper

Gluggagaegir.........Window-peeper. He sneaks around looking in all the windows, to case the premises for what he can steal. The people in the house scream in fright, when they see his face in the window. Gluggagaegir only laughs and makes faces to scare them even more.

Look at the little Danish, Icelandic, American boy eating his cracker and looking right back at Gluggagaegir...what a brave little boy.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Christmas Elve Number Nine...Bjugnakraekir...Sausage-swiper

Bjugnakraekir.....Sausage-swiper is number nine. He will seek high and low to find the sausages that have been hidden from him. Sometimes they are hidden so well, that he can not find them. Today luck was on his side, he found a string of nine.

Meet Gryla and Leppaludi the Jolasveinar’s parents. Are they not the most charming couple?

Gryla the Jolasveinar’s Mother, is a huge Troll. She is hideous to say the very least. Her nose is big and crooked. She has big warts on her face with wiry hairs sticking out of them, big teeth, some worn down to a stub, shifty eyes, stringy hair and horns on top of her head.
She has enormous bony hands with long sharp nails, her feet a hoofs and she has a long tail.
It was recorded in the 13th Century that she had 15 tails with a 100 sacks on each tail and 20 children in each sack. It makes me shiver just to think about it, and I think and hope, that whoever recorded this story was prone to exaggeration.
Her diet is one that strikes fear in every Icelandic child, she eats naughty children, just like her pet, the Christmas Cat. Oh! the horror!!! Is it any wonder that the children are particularly good this time of year? As this is the time of year that Gryla and her family, venture from their caves in the mountains, down to the farms, towns and cities.
Leppaludi, whose name means Ragamuffin, on the other hand is a pitiful specimen of a Troll. He according to some telling is Gryla’s third husband.
Her first husband was Gustur whose name means Gust, as in a gust of wind. His death is suspicious and there has been much speculation and talk about just how much of a hand in his death Gryla had. I shall not go into that here, I might frighten you away with just mentioning one of the theories that I have heard. Shivers and more shivers!!!
The second unfortunate husband was Boli his name translates into Bull. Boli did not resemble is name at all. He was a sickly Troll and it is said that he was bedridden for a Trolls age and that he faded away in his sleep.
Leppaludi is the Jolasveinar’s Father. He is slovenly Troll that wears torn and tattered rags, that have been patched numerous times, by whom remains a mystery. He is an uncouth slobbering slacker, who usually waits in the cave, for Gryla to bring unfortunate naughty children, for his dinner.
Today he ventured down from the mountains to check out the story Gryla told him, about how hard it is to find misbehaving children in this day and age. Leppaludi is afraid of Gryla’s wrath and did not want to contradict her story, so for once he roused himself and followed her, the Christmas Cat and the Jolasveinar down to civilization. At worst, he thought to himself I could go to Bæjarins Bestu and steal some Pylsur and Cokes.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Christmas Elve Number Eight...Skyrgamur...Skyr-gobbler

Skyrgamur......skyr-gobbler arrived today and made a straight line for the dairy, where he found a barrels of skyr* He gobbles down all the skyr and is rewarded with stomach aches and pains. He is heard far and near, as he cries out “I should not have eaten all the skyr”.

*Skyr is a dairy product similar to yogurt that has been an stable part of the Icelandic diet for more than 1,100 years.
Whole Foods imports Skyr from Iceland's Skyr.is. I am very happy about that...it is nice to have one of my favorite foods from Iceland in my refrigerator here in the States.

This is the true story I promised to tell you.
When I was twelve years old we lived next door to my Aunt and Uncle's house. One of my little cousins was a four years old boy, who had a way of testing ones patience. One evening just before Christmas he came over to our house for a visit. My Mother and I were baking cookies and my father was wrapping presents. He was getting in every ones way, snatching a cookie here, playing with the tape, getting hold of the scissors and asking questions over and over.
Finally our patience wore thin so we used the Christmas Cat threat, which started with us saying “The Christmas Cat will get you if you are not good” and ending by knocking on any handy wooden surface, while he was not looking and saying “That is the Christmas Cat, he is trying to get you”
Why we did all the knocking still amuses me. Did we think the Christmas Cat was so polite, that he would knock? My little cousin told us that there was no Christmas Cat and that we were just teasing him. Finally my Mother had enough and asked me to take my cousin back to his house.
When we opened the door there was a new fallen snow and coming from around the corner of our house right up to the door were cat prints. The little cousin screamed in terror, grabbed my leg and tried to pull me away from the door. Finally after soothing him and hearing promises from him to be good, he agreed that I could carry him back to his house.
Some time ago, when I was in Iceland, he told me how grateful he was that I had saved him from the Christmas Cat, when he was a little boy.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Christmas Elve Number Seven...Hurdaskellir...Door-slammer

Hurdaskellir........Door-slammer is the seventh to arrive. He waits until everyone has gone to sleep, then slams all the doors in the house. He delights in the different sounds they make. The household wakes up startled from their sleep, children cry and dogs bark. All this is music to Door-slammer’s ears.

The Christmas Cat (Jolakottur) has been striking terror in the hearts of Icelandic children for generations.
The Jolakottur, is an enormous and ferocious ugly specimen of a cat, who has an appetite for misbehaving children. Naughty children did not get new things to wear for Christmas, thus they would have to stay in bed, miss all the festivities and worse, be eaten by the Christmas Cat.
Oh! The horror of it. I was always a good girl, really I was ;) My Mother always made sure I would have something red to wear, a candle and playing cards for Christmas. And I am here to tell the story, so obviously the Christmas Cat never ate me.
It is not enough that in Iceland adults had to worry whether their Christmas dinner would be delayed or stolen. Whether they and their animals would be scared out of their whits by the pranksters, whose progress we have been following here, the Jolasveinar. Their children had to deal with the Christmas Cat, Grila and Leppaludi who had a huge appetite for naughty children.
Now, the Jolasveinar have become generous benefactors to good children. They each leave them a gift in their shoe. If the Children have been naughty they will get a potato in their shoe instead of a gift. They are still up to the tricks that their name conveys , however, they never forget to leave something in the children’s shoes.
Not a bad life, I would say, for the modern Icelandic Children, who get a present in their shoe for 13 days, before Christmas. Furthermore there have been no reports of children having been eaten by the Christmas cat, Grila or Leppaludi, instead one hears an occasional report, that someone found the dreaded potato in their shoe.

Tomorrow I will tell you a true story about the Christmas Cat and my Cousin.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Christmas Elve Number Six...Askjasleikir...Bowl-licker

Askjasleikir.......Bowl-licker is a very brave little fellow. He sneaks around waiting for someone in the household to put down their food bowl. Then the brazen little fellow snatches it away and licks it clean. Askjasleikir has to be fast on his feet to get away from the bowl's angry owner.

Today I am going to show you a little Nisse (Pixie) that I made last year.  He lives in California. 
He was worried about his hat getting crushed on his trip from the East Coast to the West Coast...I told him not to worry.  Then I gave him a little kiss...he gave me a wink and a smile and said "Will I be happy with my new family in California"  I told him that I would never send him to a place where he would not be happy.
I am working on one for my little Grandson, Victor. I am hoping that it will be ready to go to Denmark with me in a couple of days.
Ken and I will be spending Christmas and New Years with our Son and his Danish Family.
While I am away the Jolasveinars will continue to appear each day by TypePad magic.
Once I am ensconced  comfortably in my Son's home, I will be checking in with you from time to time.
I am not sure that I can make regular visits to your blogs. You will be in my thoughts and I look froward to visiting all of you in the New Year.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Christmas Elve Number Five...Pottasleikir...Pot-scraper

Pottasleikir.....Pot-scraper arrived today. He found the stew pot unattended. He grabbed it and sat down to have himself a good meal. There in the pot were several pieces of meat. He has not had such luck for many years.

Your response to my little Jolasveinar is so exciting for me...thank you for your kind comments.
I love that I have met so many new people through telling of the Icelandic traditions through the Jolasveinar.
The little fellows are a lot of work and at the same time a great deal of pleasure to create.  Sometimes after I have made a face, I say to myself "This one looks like my Uncle B, or this one reminds me of how V...crinkles his eyes when he smiles and this one has my Father's lips"  I guess the faces I have admired and loved somehow come from my hands and are represented in my Jolasveinar. 
It is all Magic you know...so much so that at times I wonder "How did I do that?" when I wake up from the creative flow. Have you ever had that happen when you are creating?
Please don't be shy I would love to have a comment from everyone that comes to visit...I am greedy that way. You don't have to write a long comment a 'Hello' will do just fine.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Fourth Christmas Elve...Thvorusleikir...Spoon-licker

Thvorusleikir...Spoon-licker likes to lick the wooden spoon, that is used to stir the food in the big pots.
When he sees his opportunity he shoots into the kitchen and grabs the spoon and holds it tight with both hands. This poor fellow is long and skinny and always hungry, as there is not much nourishment on a wooden spoon.
Today he was lucky as you can see and has licked the spoon clean.

It is interesting to me how many translations of the name Jolasveinar there are. I have come across Yulelads, Yuletide Lads, Yule Goblins, Christmas Elves, Christmas Men and Christmas Lads. I am sure there are many more.
There have been over 80 recorded names for the Jolasveinar themselves, describing their looks or their tricks.
I wonder why names such as Bandaleisir....Strap looser, Faldafleikir....Skirt blower, this name I have also seen translated as Skirt flipper, Hlodustrangi....Barn roll.
Have the Jolasveinar become more politically correct?  I wonder.

As long as I can remember I have adored Christmas and the traditions that we have established over the years.
We celebrate Christmas Eve in the traditional Icelandic way. At around 4:00PM the men in our family smoke their yearly cigar, we like the cigar smell mingling with the smoked lamb fragrance.
At 6:00PM we cue Icelandic music that has the Church Bells of Reykjavik ringing, we kiss everyone and wish them Gledileg Jol. Then we have our dinner, after dinner we open all our presents.
Christmas morning we have and combination of an Icelandic and American breakfast afterwards we open stocking presents.
We love wind up toys and we all play with them. Many of the stocking presents are from years past and we all have a good laugh...someone always says “I got that one last year” or “Wow, I have not seen this one for years”  Silly Putty lasts a surprisingly long time.

Each year I make something related to Christmas. Cards, ornaments or little figures. I always find something I would like to make but it is too late to make it that year. I file it away in my mind...sometimes I remember to make it the following year.

Every year we love to watch the same movies. My all time favorite is Ingmar Bergman’s “Fanny and Alexander”. It is in Swedish and my son and I sometimes say the lines with the actors. My son loves “It’s a Beautiful Life”. My Husband loves “Christmas Vacation” I pretend not to like it...but it never fails to make me laugh. My Daughter in law loves “The Sound of Music”.
We also watch as many Christmas movies in the season as we can find on TV. I also love to watch the old TV shows Rudolf, Frosty the Snow Man, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas...the animated version, to name a few.

I decorate the tree/trees with a different theme each year.  I have antique ornaments that my Mother in law gave me. I also have Red, gold and blue themes.
For 34 years my Mother has given my son a silver sleigh bell for Christmas. They are still here, but I suspect they will be going to Denmark soon. I always use them no matter what the theme...silver goes with everything.

The first time I put up our Christmas tree with all the lovely antique ornaments that my Mother in law gave me, our new kitten pulled the tree down while we were at a Christmas party...many beautiful ornaments were broken :(
About 5 years later I again pulled out all the lovely antique ornaments again, another new little kitten found them fascinating and made toys out of the best and most beautiful ones...many broke as kitten aimed for the fire place.
I used the antique ornaments on our living room tree last year...no kitten, however there was a baby in the house.  I am happy to report that there were no disasters.

Note: The black and white photo was taken of me when I was four years old.  The house and church was made for me that year by my Uncle.

This year I will be giving away one of the little Jolasveinar (Christmas Elf).  I will be drawing a name from the comments.  All the names for each day will be added to the hat...so that if you comment each day your changes will be greater. Only one comment per post..please.
The Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf) that has the most comments will be the prize.  If there is an equal number of comments on each post, there will be a drawing for the giveaway Jolasveinn (Christmas Elf).
There is also one small rule...I would like to have a least ten comments on each post :)
The drawing will be on January 7th, 2009. Good Luck.

Please don't be shy, leave a comment...even if you don't have much to say... "Hello" will do just fine.