Yule Lads and Christmas Read-Fest!

A festival of Jenny Colgan novels!

Holiday-loving folks might conclude I have a touch of Scrooge-iness, but the commercial frenzy of modern Christmases isn’t for me.

I yearn for the simpler gifting traditions of my childhood—you’d get one toy (yes, that’s one) a pair of mittens, a few tchotchkes, and maybe a pretty new pinafore from your grandmother, and you would be, as the Irish say, thrilled to bits.

Yeah, yeah, you may be thinking. This gal is also going to claim she used to walk 10 miles to school and back every day, with both ways uphill, etc. 

But when I was seven years old, I received something even better than a pinafore: a fuzzy winter hat with ringlets knitted into it (I had a pixie haircut and ached for long curls), and I was overcome with joy.

Anyway. It seems like presents and celebrations keep getting more expensive and extravagant, and the expectations for them keep growing. I always figured this had developed over the last 30 years or so.

Then I came across some holiday musings in the classic novel Howards End, by English author E.M. Forster. Here’s what his heroine Margaret was thinking:

“…Peace? It may bring other gifts, but is there a single Londoner to whom Christmas is peaceful? The craving for excitement and for elaboration has ruined that blessing...”

And this was from 1910! Not trying to be a holiday buzzkill or anything, but I have to agree.

Simpler holidays in the U.S. may have fallen by the wayside, but not everywhere—that’s why I like to check out traditions from other cultures. The celebration that I’m totally on board with is Christmas in Iceland.

Yule Lads

One Icelandic tradition provides fun for the kiddies: the legend of the Yule Lads.

Photo Credit: Official Iceland website

Starting December 12 until Christmas, children leave one shoe in the windowsill each night and wait for the Yule Lads’ visit. These Icelandic trolls—there are 13 of them—come from the mountains, one troll assigned for each day.

“Sheep-Cote Clod” starts off the celebration the first night, the 12^th. And every night after that until Christmas, a troll will leave candy in kids’ shoes.

Sweets and candy are only for good kids, though. Apparently Icelandic kiddos who are naughty receive not a lump of coal, but a rotten potato. As a gardener who has pulled many a decomposing potato out of the ground, spoiled spuds are disgusting, slimy articles! You would not want to wear that shoe again!

What I especially like about the shoe thing is that there’s no room for the latest gaming console or gigantic Nerf gun. 

The Yule Lad traditions do a double-duty: their purpose is not only to leave sweets, but to make mischief! They emerge from their mountain hideaways to also create pranks, mayhem and thievery.

For instance, the sheep clod troll mentioned above harasses (naturally) sheep. “Gully Gawk,” who arrives December 13, hides in gullies, then sneaks into cowsheds to slurp up the milk.

“Pot-Licker” (December 16) steals leftovers from where else? Pots. There are actually three “Licker” lads: besides the pot-licking lad, there’s a spoon-licker and a bowl-licker too.

“Sausage-Swiper,” arriving the 20^th, hides in the attic where people smoke meat and takes sausages, and “Window-Peeper,” December 21, peeps into homes in hopes of seeing what he might steal. (Interesting, that naughty kids get rotten taters but the Yule Lads’ naughtiness goes unpunished!)

Christmas Eve Reading Tradition

While Yule Lads are all about myth, as a book lover, I love the more down-to-earth Icelandic celebration of “Jolabokaflod”—a rough translation is “Christmas book flood.” People give books as gifts, and on Christmas Eve, the lucky recipients spend the evening reading and drinking hot chocolate, preferably in front of the fire.

Does that sound heavenly or what!

Just think, no pressure to put on a big holiday dinner or party, just curling up with a good book! My husband John, who’s also an avid reader, thinks it a great idea too.

I’ve got a perfect trio of Christmas Eve reads all ready, novels by my all-time favorite author Jenny Colgan, which are all about my favorite things: books, Christmas and a happily-ever-after cozy love story.

And now that I’ve baked my usual Christmas shortbread, gingersnaps and pecan butter cookies, John and I are all set for munchies while we read.

This week’s blizzard

We’ve been snowed in all week at our place, drifts everywhere courtesy of a savage northeaster, with temperatures hitting below zero. 

In fact, it’s been too bitter out there for anything but some firewood-chopping and a quick walk—so we’ve had to forgo a leisurely tromp around our place to find a little fir for our Christmas tree.

Instead, I’ve dressed up our leggy hibiscus plant!

Improvised Christmas “tree”

Given current driving conditions, our Christmas plans with family are looking iffy. So it may be the perfect year for the two of us to try out “Jolabokaflod” and celebrate Icelandic-style!!

To everyone out there who celebrates Christmas *and* books, I wish you a merry holiday and happy reading!

Photos by Susan Browne and John F. Browne. Thanks to the Cascadia Daily News and Librarian extraordinaire Lisa Gresham for the “Jolabokaflod” tip!