[Photos taken 24 – 30 December 2022, posted online 01 August 2023. Just drove one brother & family to the airport, they’re moving to Sweden!]
With my iffy health, we had to cancel having mom and brother over for Christmas Eve dinner and present openings. Instead, I lay in bed for most of the day, but then rallied and spent the evening downstairs, tucked away in the corner, as far away from everyone as possible.
The day after, it was Anna’s 19th birthday. She spent the morning making desserts, and we had a present opening ceremony before Finnur took the kiddos to the annual Christmas Day feast at his parents’ place, while I returned to being mostly horizontal.
The second day of Christmas was suitably low energy. Much to my consternation, I was still vertically challenged the following day, and Finnur’s youngest sister went with the gang to a year-end comedy show.
Finally, after a week of barely staying vertical, I got better, and walked outside for the first time in forever. I went into work for one day, then took another one off and we finally made a ginger bread house. Which brought us to the last day of the year…
Saturday 24 December 2022
Tidy children in front of a tidy tree hiding a treasure trove of gifts.
It was a snowy day, but I did manage to feed the birds.
The wait for 6 pm on yule-eve is always the hardest wait.
Bedridden and useless at 3 pm.
The weather calmed down by 4 pm.
Emma got one more use out of this dress, it’s too small now.
Waiting for dinner to begin.
All the ceremonial stuff.
The heroic chef, about to sugarcoat potatoes.
Passing time.
Let there be eating! On a table-cloth!
Finnur’s decided fancy ice cream is plenty for dessert, but I insisted on creamy melted Toblerone chocolate sauce… mmmm!
After we cleaned up in the kitchen, I hid in the chair in the far corner, as the package opening got going.
Oooh, a big one!
Of course the was a fire burning… on the tv.
All my wishes fulfilled! (Aside from better health.)
Sunday 25 December 2022
No more presents left under the tree.
Anna, the birthday girl, made dessert cakes for the party at her grandparents’ place, as is now customary.
She’s an adventurous baker!
Opening her presents.
Party time!
Proof that I was alive, and capable of standing upright for about 10 minutes at a time.
Birthday girl with the cake she made.
My festive food: reheated goulash soup, and avocado & salmon toast.
The view from the sofa.
It’s impossible to take photos of our tv, but in my boredom I bought the game Hoa, and played while everyone was away.
Once us girls were done playing, the boys played some FIFA.
Monday 26 December 2022
Birds waiting for their breakfast.
Emma was bored, so she opened the chemistry set she got for Christmas.
Anna was her guide, as I was still having trouble with energy levels. For this experiment, Emma added just enough salt (I think) to make the egg neutrally boyant!
On to the next task.
Mixing stuff to get red goo! That was all the action Anna had patience for, and so we packed the kit up.
Bjarki trying out various positions.
Towards the end of the afternoon I got a rush of energy, and was inspired to push a bit of snow around, to keep the parking lots clear of snow.
Hmmm, still not all the way to ok.
Tuesday 27 December 2022
New day, more snow!
Yes, yes birdies, I’m coming!
Once it stopped snowing, I somehow convinced the girls to go outside to push snow around, before more cars arrived to crush down the snow, making it very hard to move it.
Almost time to go to a comedy show!
Emma (too young) and I (too unwell) stayed home while the other ones went to laugh.
Wednesday 28 December 2022
Finally, finally (!!) I felt mostly ok, and decided to go out for a walk, as I was fed up with being stuck inside.
The town was doing a good job in keeping walking paths cleared of snow.
Proof it was me.
Snow piles, everywhere.
The sun just barely clearing the horizon at 2 pm.
This raven was circling around the church, in between hanging out on its roof.
Holiday cards have fallen out of favor in Iceland as most people just post holiday photos and greetings on Facebook. The only holiday cards we got were from abroad!
Thursday 29 December 2022
I showed up to work, along with a handful of souls. The lunch food delivery usually has 6-8 boxes…!
Aurora visible from our bedroom window.
Friday 30 December 2022
I took the Friday off from work, as they kindly gave us two extra days, since the holidays mostly happened on the weekends. It was super cold outside!
Moooore bird-food! Fatty balls, a bucket of chopped sunflower seeds, and peanuts (that I would end up needing to chop, as they clogged the feeder otherwise).
Late Christmas present! Much used!
It was now or never! Time to build a ginger-bread house! Hand for scale!
My helpers.
Emma was most excited to make the royal icing!
A pile of cookies forming.
Using super sugary royal icing to glue the house together.
Anna called dibs on being main decorator, doing the outsides at 10 pm.
We decided to continue the following day, it was late! On towards the last day of the year!
