Christmas eve in Iceland

I slept till noon, or thereabout, on the 24th of December, aðfangadagur, as it is called in Iceland. After lunch I went to my youngest brother's place and played a bit of a board game with my niece and nephew before mom called and told me they were going to the graveyard. It's a tradition in Iceland that everyone goes to the graveyard on Christmas eve and lights candles for dead loved ones. Five people in my family lie there - both sets of grand parents and my uncle who died before I was born. We light candles and say prayers and it's always a rather sad moment because they are not with us anymore. My maternal grandparents always used to spend Christmas with us.

After the trip to the graveyard I took it easy for a while, before taking a bath, shining up and heading to my oldest brother's place. We had pork for dinner, which I always love. After the ice cream and when the table had been cleared my nices got to open their presents. They were so excited the younger started vomiting. Then there was paper wrappings all over the place and the floor covered with clothes and toys. In between were a few presents for my brother and his wife and one for each of us, me, mom and dad. We only opened the presents we got from their family. The others we opened at home.

I got some very nice things; a couple of CDs, a book, mittens, a shawl, pyjamas, a necklace, socks, candle and a beautiful clock my father carved. He's big into carving now that he's retired. My mother makes things out of class and clay. Really cool things and she gave me one of her pictures too.

Around nine my youngest brother and family came for coffee even though no one was really hungry yet after all the eating. But it's kind of a tradition.

I went to bed around midnight with a good Icelandic book and enjoyed a successful Christmas eve.