I'm starting to remember what it's like not being able to wake up in the morning. In London I didn't have this problem at all. The first photo is taken at 3 o'clock pm. However the endless darkness gives you a good excuse to have candles burning all day long. Which is cozy and......festive.

Here you see some photos of my favorite icelandic christmas traditions. Pictures 2-4: Making laufabrauð with my over productive family on my mother's side. My grandparents house immediately turns into a laufabrauð-factory which makes sense since this family used to own a chocolate factory for 45 years. We all get into the old "let's do this!"-feeling and all that's missing are the ugly hairnets and huge headphones we used to wear while making lovely chocolates and candies.

The last picture is from my favorite christmas party. On 23. of december it is tradition to eat "kæst skata" and my dad's family always get's together to do so. Basically kæst skata is rotten stingray. When trying to explain this tradition to my british coworkers I decided to call it "stinky stingray". The taste is so strong that if you inhale while taking a bite you might risk a coughing fit....which usually turns into a laughing fit. When it comes down to it the taste doesn't matter but the act of preserving a crazy tradition with people you love and drinking brennivín while you're at it can't possibly be boring. In the picture you see my plate with a huge bite of Tindaskata (which is the strongest kind), some potatoes, beets and sheep fat (the brown stuff), beer and brennivín. Tasty!