Reynir loved it when his siblings came home. It was rare, because being among Iceland's rare immune population, they were all employed by the Icelandic Navy in various interesting and exciting jobs!
So, Yuletide was Reynir's favorite. Most of the family, or, sometimes even everyone, were home at the same time. The house would be full of light, chatter and the occasional Yule song. And the enticing smells of cooking sheep, roasting sheep and sheep stew. Not to forget the main item, smoked sheep!
The year Reynir was 10 and Bjarni was away at school was the first when none of the older siblings were at home yet on the 12th of December. Therefore, it fell on Reynir to watch the sheep and make sure Stekkjastaur, the first of the Jólasveinar or Yule Lads, the pranksters who visit humans around Yule, would not get to bother the sheep too much. He was delighted to get such an important mission!
It was exciting, but also slightly worrying - what if he was too good a guard, and Stekkjastaur got upset and left without leaving him a gift? So, Reynir took his shepherding staff and a lantern and set out very determined and sharp. But he also made sure to occasionally look away to allow the prankster to get in just some little pranks. And his efforts were rewarded, as when he came in that evening, when the sheep were back inside, he found an orange in his Yule shoe!
From that day onward, Reynir had to be constantly on guard for the Yule Lads. Giljagaur would steal milk, Þvörusleikir and his brothers would steal food each on their own day, and so on. Reynir helped with the preparations, cooking food and decorating the house, but mostly he was on Yule Lad duty. He was a big boy already!
On the 17th of December everyone had arrived at last, and it was time to bake the laufabrauð or the snowflake bread. All day long they spent in the large kitchen, cutting and frying the flat cakes. Mum's and Guðrun's were the finest, but Reynir was pretty impressed with his own too! Of course, his patterns weren't as intricate, but this was the first year he did the cutting. And the important thing was that he helped! The following morning, when he got the first laufabrauð with his breakfast milk and some honey, he felt like it tasted even better because he had helped make it. After that, he was particularly keeping his eyes peeled for Gáttaþefur, who could use his big nose to sniff out where the cakes were hidden. It would be a disaster, if the first cakes he had helped cut were stolen!
He did well guarding for the Jólasveinar, because no major pranks took place. Hurðaskellir woke him up one night, but when he hurried to the door to tell the Door-Slammer to stop it before the Lad woke mum and dad, he found only Bjarni, who had already chased Hurðaskellir away. Some skyr went missing on the 19th of December, but there was still plenty to go around. So, all in all, Reynir took good care of his duties and the preparations went smoothly. Also the Jólasveinar were happy with him, since he got a little candy or a cookie every day in his shoe.
Finally, it was Yule Eve, and all the Yule Lads had been thwarted by Reynir's dutiful efforts. Even Ketkrókur (Reynir was secretly a little afraid of him and his big hook!) had gone his way without the smoked sheep he was after. Everybody was home, the house was alight with the Yule lights, and the animals had been given their special Yule hay.
All the family gathered at the main room's great table for the Yule Eve feast. They had various kinds of fish, roast lamb with the laufabrauð, and Reynir's favorite, ptarmigan. The family had never been poor during Reynirs's lifetime, and with three kids in Navy jobs, they were nowadays well off. They had even been able to build the second wing to the house, giving Reynir a room of his own away from Bjarni. Still, there was rarely meat and fish in the same table, not to mention different meats.
Reynir ate his fill and then some (he still felt like the snowflake cakes were even better this year than before), while listening to the fascinating stories. Ólafur was serving on the M/S Þor II and based on his stories they encountered huge sea beasts almost every day! Ólafur was Reynir's hero! Guðrun was stationed at the Navy hospital, and her stories about the injuries she had seen and the difficulties of treating them in quarantine conditions were banned at the table. Hildur was currently stationed in Norway, and she knew several of the Norwegian troll hunters personally.
Reynir was surely the luckiest boy in all of Brúardalur, to have not one but three siblings in such exciting jobs! And Bjarni would soon join the Navy too. Only Reynir himself was denied the adventures. He had of course always known he was non-immune, but it rarely bothered him in his everyday life on the farm. But on days like this, when he got a glimpse of the high life his siblings were living as a junior seaman or apprentice nurse, he felt a bit sorry for himself. But not for long! It was Yule after all!
After the dinner, it was time for presents. Reynir got a beautiful sweater from mum (of course), and mittens from dad, just to be on the safe side. Nobody wanted to be eaten by the Jólakötturin! Reynir wasn't quite sure he believed the Yule Cat would actually come and eat anyone who didn't get something new to wear as a Yule present (wasn’t Iceland supposed to be free of monsters? Wasn’t that the point of why he had to stay home because of his stupid non-immunity?). Still, it was a relief to see the clothes in everyone's packages. Hildur's impersonation of the Jólakötturin was very scary!
As the baby of the family, Reynir got some extra presents too. He WAS a big boy already, but perhaps he didn't need to emphasize it today? Ólafur had made him a lamb, with a knit head and legs, and a body of fluffy wool. Reynir felt he was perhaps a bit big for such toys, but it was so fluffy and beautiful, and he loved it. He named her Tóta and kept her with him for many years.
But even better was the book. Guðrun had bought him a book, specifically written for children. It was a copy of an Old World book, and it had an exciting story and interesting pictures. On the cover and on three of the pages, the pictures were painted with bright colors. Guðrun told him that apparently the original book had colored pictures on every page! The Old World must have been so, so wonderful!
The pictures in the book were a bit funny, though. Reynir was reading his book together with his sister. “Look, Guðrun, this dragon ship doesn’t have a dragon! It is a lady made of wood!”. The people in the book had lots of weapons and very exotic clothing. Many only had short breeches and a thin-looking shirt, and not one was wearing a warm sweater!
“I think it takes place in a very warm area, the South Seas,” Guðrun explained. “The South Seas have endless summer! Not just in the book, but for real!”
“Oo, that would be great! Why don’t we move there?”
“Iceland is the only safe place in the World. And the cold helps us here in the North, and the other nations too. The Rashlings don’t like the cold.” Oh, yeah. The Rashlings. Preventing Reynir from ever seeing anything interesting!
The environment in the pictures looked all silly. The plants were overly lush and green, with wide leaves and huge flowers. Trees had long, bald trunks with a bunch of branches sticking out to every direction at the very top. There wasn't much forest near Brúardalur, but Reynir knew what trees look like, and that wasn't it!
“No, I haven’t seen a tree like that either,” Guðrun told him. “According to this, they are called palm trees.”
“I wonder if they are real?” Reynir mused.
“They may well be! I haven’t seen everything in the Known World, and the whole world is a lot bigger than that. There are many strange things out there.”
“And I will never get to see any of it,” Reynir sighed wistfully.
“Don’t worry, baby brother!” (I’m no baby! I’m a big boy!) “You will have a good life here in Iceland. It is the best country in the world! And at least you can look at the pictures.”
It was the best book ever! Reynir would read it again tonight, and many many times after that. What a perfect Yule!
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Author’s note: See all the Yule Lads here:
https://adventures.is/blog/the-icelandic-yule-lads/Ps: I didn’t even include every interesting tradition
