Thvorusleikir...Spoon-licker likes to lick the wooden spoon, that is used to stir the 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 until it is 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 have been tagged by my good friend and fellow Doll Artist Dawn Alice Rodgers from Art with a Soul. Who was Tagged by our friend Suzanne Urban of Smirking Goddess Studio.
Rebecca of Cre8Triva also Tagged her readers.
Now I must Tag someone...and that someone is you...if you are so inclined...if not that is also OK!!!

Here are the rules one must follow:
1. Post these rules on your Blog.
2. Link to your Tagger. This is a wonderful PR tool for the Google search engines. Hence the name Tagged!
3. Share 5 facts about yourself on your Blog. Some facts can be random & some unusual. Sharing on Tagger's Blog is optional.
4. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their Blogs.
5. Let them know they are Tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog.

1. 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 and then 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Each year I decorate the tree/trees with a different theme. 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.

5. 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 fireplace.
This year I will again use the antique ornaments on our living room tree...no kitten, however there will be a baby in the house.

Labels: My Art