Waiting on the Yule Lads...

Above is a photo of the kids' shoes in the windowsill. The kids are waiting for the Icelandic Yule Lads...they start visiting Icelandic children around the world starting tonight. A new lad will stop by each night for 13 nights before Christmas. Most of the time, the lads will leave small gifts like fruit or candy but if a child is particularly naughty, he or she might end up with a potato in their shoe! The first lad to stop by is "Sheep Cot Clod", a clumsy guy who used to annoy the sheep. See more about the tradition here: http://www.simnet.is/gardarj/ The site lists "Gimpy" as the first lad but our calender says Sheep Cot Clod. I'm sure someone out there knows which is correct, but perhaps they are one and the same!

Incidentally, the blogs below are nice to look at, especially so for my friends who have lived in Iceland before. You will see some photos of the shopping street in Reykjavik all decked out for Christmas and I'm sure it will bring back some memories for you as it does for me. The Icelanders know how to do Christmas! Beautiful! http://not-about-books.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html
and this one http://icelandeyes.blogspot.com/

Below are two new photos that I thought were cute.



Sharing the bike (taken today)



Laney as Stevie Nicks. We didn't intend for this to happen but with the black velvet dress, the rose, the jewelry, and the boots, I just couldn't resist! Perhaps this is how Stevie got started???

I got 4 boxes in the mail to family and friends today. One more to go and then I think I'm pretty much done with the mailing. I have a few more Christmas cards to finish up. And loads of gifts to wrap for the kids that grandparents have had delivered. Steve has 3 more days of school...2 more papers and 2 finals and then he is DONE with this semester. Delaney has 3 more days of school this week. I'm keeping her home on Wednesday so she can go to a puppet show with the Healthy Start playgroup. Should be fun for all of the kids as it is at the Children's Theatre in Balboa Park.