These days it seems to be the ‘norm’ to host multiple birthday parties for one kid.  In particular there tends to be one party for the classmates and another for the family and friends.  Since we happen to have large families on both sides, we decided to split the partying up into three parts: 1) Finnur’s family at Finnur’s parents’ place on Christmas Day, 2) all the girl’s in Anna’s class at the ice-skating rink, and 3) Hrefna’s family and our friends.  In a fit of insanity I organized 2) and 3) to be on the same day, but thankfully it all worked out in the end.

The girls singing Happy Birthday for Anna at the ice-rink.

… the adults go out to play!

Finnur at Grillmarkaðurinn in downtown Reykjavík.

Mmmm... we split this lovely dessert!

Yes, both kids got swept away on sleepovers earlier today. Anna headed to her classmate’s before lunch and will not be returning until tomorrow. So that Bjarki wouldn’t be bored to tears in the meantime, Finnur’s parents agreed to take him on for the same amount of time.

My plan for the day was to ‘attend an hour long meeting’ and then ‘shop for baking supplies and start baking for Anna’s second birthday celebration’ (which is tomorrow). Instead, the meeting went on for almost three hours (ok, first there was lunch, then a meeting that took an hour and a half), and then another issue popped up that needed immediate attention.

As a result, I’d barely pulled together a list of ingredients at 17:30, at which time I started pondering dinner. The usual take-away just didn’t seem like a fun idea, so I called Finnur and he booked us a table at a nice restaurant. While we were there, some friends called and asked if we wanted to join them for a movie, and we did! It must be said that Mission Impossible 4 was surprisingly enjoyable, and I now have the darn theme-song running on a loop in my head.

The downside to all this, is that instead of being a ‘good mom’ and a ‘good housewife’ I will now be going out tomorrow and buying a cake or two or three for tomorrow’s celebration. Baking be damned!

As usual, the week between Christmas and the new year is full of fun feasts.  On the Second day of Christmas, Arnar and Magnea invited the family over for delicious food and good company.  Here are some pics.

Mmmm... lovely lovely foooood!

Anna Sólrún is now EIGHT years old!!  How time flies.  As is customary, we spent the day with Finnur’s family.  We arrived around 14:30, and began by eating a chocolate cake in Anna’s honor.  She then got to open some presents (Icelanders open the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve) much to her enjoyment.

After the ‘birthday-part’ of the day was over, the adults sat down to play whist while the kids watched some tv.  After we’d played 12 rounds, it was time for Christmas Dinner, after which the whist-trophy was awarded to the top scorer, and some playing cards were given to the lowest scorer.

All in all it was a lovely Christmas Day, and to make the day even more lovely we had snowfall pretty much the whole day, making the view extra Christmassy.

Here are some photos from the day.

The standard-issue chocolate cake, with too many colorful smarties to be readable. It should say "Anna 8"

The (half) happy family.

Begin info dump: Icelanders celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.  The celebrations begin at 6pm with a fancy meal, followed by the all-important opening of presents. End info dump.

Christmas (Eve)/Yule/Solstice arrived in a flurry of snow.  The trickiest part of the day is keeping the kids sane, because, duh, PRESENTS!!  We somehow managed to convince them to go outside, just as a blizzard descended, and

The kids out in the backyard as snow is beginning to fall.

Merry Christmas!  Gleðileg jól!  Happy Solstice!  Gleðilega sólstöðuhátíð!  :)  :)

All in all – HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We spent Christmas 2010 in England, and therefore never bothered to buy a Christmas/Yule-tide/Solstice tree last year.  This year we were planning to cut down a tree in our own back-yard, but when the time came it was already dark out, the tree wasn’t that pretty, and we were feeling lazy.  End-result:  Finnur drove to the nearest tree-depot and bough a tree.

It is customary in Iceland to put the Christmas tree up on the evening before Christmas Eve, so that’s what we did.  As it happened, Bjarni and mom were delivering presents at the same time, so we got them to help out.

Anna and Bjarki walking aroud the decorated Christmas tree stand...

On 16 December 2011, my brother Nökkvi and his spouse Jóhanna welcomed their second child!  She was in a hurry to get here, and measured 53 cm (20.9 inches) long and weighed 4 kg (16 ‘merkur’, 8.8 lbs) on arrival.  All were healthy and happy and they went home later that day.

Since we were in the UK at the time, we could only marvel through Facebook, but the day after our arrival we went to visit the little lady who mostly slept while we where there.  Our kids of course glued them selves to the tv as soon as we arrived and showed no interest in the little one.  Oh, they don’t know what they were missing!

The little one in her cot that her mom made for her as a final project at school. Now that's what I'd call 'useful' education!

The little one and her mom exchanging awwws...

Mr. Dad.

We brought some Carter's clothing, courtesy of Finnur's worktrip to the US. Mmmm... Caaaarters...! In the background are Finnur and the kids, Ylfa (now a big sister!) and Granny Ásdís who was also visiting.

Little miss did very little besides sleeping, drinking and burping. Just as she should!

Big sister up on a chair by little sis' cot.

Very! Excited!

Look at that... a baaaby!

Congratulations Nökkvi, Jóhanna and Ylfa!!