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Kiz_Paws Bag Of Trix

Deep Freeze, Icelandic Customs, etc.

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by
kiz_paws
, 12-14-2008 at 12:33 AM (2457 Views)
One more sleep until the surprise birthday for my dad. I just got off the phone from my brother and found out that he has the same winter storm warnings as we have here in the Prairies -- snow and blowing snow, temperatures dipping to below minus forty-five Celcius, with the windchill factor ...

But it will not put a damper on the party spirit. My only hope is that my brother's plane is on schedule, or as close to it as humanly possible.

We are in a total deep freeze right now. I can't believe it -- yesterday night (Friday, Dec. 12th) I could have gone ice skating on The Pond, had it not been for a commitment with friends to Christmas Shop (after I went for Sushi with my hubby of course). I had awoken to a rather chilly day, but it 'warmed up' to a balmy minus eight Celcius This was too good to be true, so I basically I finished my Christmas shopping as a result of the warm turn of events weatherwise.

Anyhooooo,

" ... Christmas in Iceland is very cool.. There are 13 Icelandic Santa Clauses, known locally as jólasveinar ("Yuletide Lads"; singular: jólasveinn). The jólasveinar parents are Grýla, a mean old woman who drags off naughty children, and Leppalúđi, who is not as mean.

The origin of the jólasveinar is centuries old, and each has its own name, character and role. During Christmas in Iceland, the function of the jólasveinar is to come to town bearing gifts and candy (and perhaps a prank or two). The first jólasveinn arrives 13 days before Christmas and then the others follow, one each day. After Christmas, they leave one by one. The custom is for children to put a shoe in the window from December 12 until Christmas Eve. If the child has been good, then one of the jólasveinar leaves a gift -- bad children receive a potato ..."


For more information on the Icelandic custom, please see Icelandic Christmas Customs

Hmmmm, wonder how many recipe ideas I can come up with, with all the potatoes that will pop up around here ... j/k


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There is frost on my kitchen window lately, here are two samples of how I see outside (only when it is bitter outside as stated above):

...

Stay warm, everyone!

♥ ~~ K♥zzo ~~ ♥
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Comments

  1. Virgil's Avatar
    Just looking at those pictures and hearing your weather makes me appreciate my winter (which I hate) so much more. Oh why is this planet so cold? It's inhuman. And why the heck are people complaining about global warming. If were true (which it's not ) it would be a blessing.

    Now I know why when I go to Arizona for a work I see so many Canadian licence plates among the snow birds.

    Keep warm Kizzo.

    As if I need to remind you.
  2. motherhubbard's Avatar
    Kiz, when Chaney was two we took her to sit on Santa’s lap. We didn’t coach her or suggest anything she might ask Santa for ahead of time. Santa went through his ‘what’s your name…have you been a good little girl’ routine and Chaney asked for a sausage. Santa was not prepared for the request so he tried to suggest that she might prefer a doll to a sausage. She assured him that all she wanted was a sausage, thank you, she already had a doll. She still gets a sausage in her stocking every year. Your potato story made me think of that and I still get tickled thinking of the expression on Santa’s face. I hope you get to the pond soon! Have a great party tomorrow.
  3. TheFifthElement's Avatar
    hehehehe, you remind me how expansive the Icelandic people are. You know they have 9 words for hello

    Lovely pictures, as always, Kizzo. I love the ice formations on your window, like a little cold creature crawling along the glass.
  4. PeterL's Avatar
    Potatoes are better than cinders.

    I'm glad that it was warm for your shopping. On Mithra's birthday from 12 noon to 1 PM GMT we will be having an hour of prayer in the hope of having more golbal warming, so that there will be no more snow.
  5. Shalot's Avatar
    I would like to go there and experience winter. We haven't had much winter here in several years. I haven't seen a real snow since 2004 I think. Crazy. Of course, once I got there I would probably be ready to go back home right away.
  6. mtpspur's Avatar
    I don't miss winter at all having survived 12 North Dakota winters as well as New York Lake Ontario ones. But you sem to thrive so to each their own. So hoping your brother got there to surprise your father. Best wishes to you and your family.
  7. LadyWentworth's Avatar
    I hope all will go as planned with your dad's birthday! Does it look right now like there might be much of a delay with your brother's plane?

    We haven't had cold weather like that in so long. I was watching TV today and I couldn't believe how freezing it will be in North Dakota (the temperature and wind chill - especially the wind chill). That is kind of scary. I am just not feeling up to anything below zero right now. 8 degrees farenheit is enough for me at the moment.

    Great pictures, again.