2017.6 Jolabokaflod

Apparently in Iceland there is a Christmas tradition of gifting loved ones with books on Christmas eve, then everyone goes to bed and reads and snacks on chocolate. I freaking love this!  Just imagine snuggling in and getting to read until you fall asleep, instead of late night gift wrapping and stocking stuffing and getting ready for tommorrowing?

So from what I have read the tradition goes back to post WW2 when paper was cheap so publishers would flood the market with books right before Christmas. Now, I am certain that giving books is not unique to Iceland, the part where you get to spend the rest of the evening reading them is priceless.  No wonder 1 in 10 Icelanders will publish a book in their lifetime. 

Now, I have never been to Iceland, and this certainly isn’t my tradition, although you never know… It does remind me of the first year Kat and I were married.  I was still in college, and Kat had just graduated.  I don’t remember everything she bought for me, but I do recall that she purchased me several books, and I gave her several in return.  One night, over Christmas break, we had gone to bed early, mostly because it was cold and we had an electric blanket and no central heating.  Around midnight I rolled over and discovered Kat was awake too.  I don’t know whose suggestion it was, but I do know we spent the next couple of hours reading our books and snacking on leftover lemon cake that Elizabeth Norman had made.  That may not be how it is supposed to work, but I certainly remember that evening and that experience and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

So if you are a reading type, and you should be, and I guess even if you are not a reading type, but you are looking for a good gift, I am going to put it out there that books are amazing gifts.  I was going to put a plug here for Fawkes Press books, aka my side hustle, but just figured out the website is undergoing some technical difficulties. So Yeah! Books!  Boo Hiss Technology