This week has been filled with family time, lots of laughter, and more food then I think was possible for me to eat. After all the delicious Christmas food I have been left feeling like this adorable guy.
Growing up with pugs this picture just cracked me up. Those dogs are such characters and I am pretty sure this was how I looked laying on the couch after the Christmas dinner.

My Christmas celebration began on the 23rd with a evening stroll on Laugavegur, the main shopping street in downtown Reykjavik. Its a tradition that on the 23rd people walk downtown to finish up some with last minute shopping, meet up with friends, or just wander the streets and see what is going on.As you can kinda see in this picture the streets are just packed! It was fun seeing all the Christmas cheer and listening to carolers along the way. My night even including shopping alongside Bjork, no big deal:)

Christmas Eve is the main day of celebration here in Iceland. We started our day with a delicious lunch with H’s family that included rice pudding, smoked salmon, and smoked lamb with the Laufabrauð we just made, which is so good together! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing board games and preparing the Christmas meal, it was a relaxing day and much quieter than the chaotic Christmases I am used to back home. I was completely spoiled by H and his family and had such a lovely time celebrating Christmas with them. They made me feel so welcomed and apart of the family which really helped make my first Christmas away from home much easier.

Christmas Day H and I opened our gifts from each other in the morning, I had to keep a little bit of the American Christmas going on over here. Typically in Iceland the 25th is when everyone sleeps in, relaxes around the house and eats the leftovers which is basically opposite of what I am used to. It was so nice though having a day to just relax and enjoy the day instead of being rushed around. It also gave me time to catch up with everyone back home.My sisters dog Fergus just cracks me up in this picture! He spends the entire time I am on skype with them running around the house looking for me since he can hear my voice. Very sweet and funny at the same time:) Of course I got some Christmas love from my other favorite pup.She looks quite comfortable enjoying the Christmas morning fire with my sister It was great getting to skype with everyone back home but also made me miss being there with all of them. At least I was able to see their faces and send some love, maybe next Christmas they will all be over here with me celebrating the day!

The 26th is a holiday here in Iceland as well so most places are closed on this day making it an extra long Christmas vacation for everyone. I find this so nice compared to what I am use to in America, it is always so exhausting having to go back to work the day after Christmas so it has been great to have these extra days to just lounge around and try and come out of my food coma!

We spent our afternoon on the 26th out enjoying a walk in the freezing weather. The sun has been out and shining so bright during the few hours of daylight so we couldn’t pass up the chance to get some vitamin D. The pond in the middle of the city is now completely frozen over, it looks like a beautiful frozen wonderland People were taking advantage of the sunlight as well and getting their skating on. I for one am not talented at all when it comes to skating, as soon as those things go on my feet I fall down. So instead we used the sunlight for picture taking.Yes this is how we ice skate, by taking frozen statue pictures of each other while everyone else skates around us:) At least we didn’t fall down! Check out my beautiful new scarf H got me for Christmas, I now finally have one of those thick Icelandic scarves I have been eying since I arrived, to bad it doesn’t help block out the crazy winds!

Today things are starting to open back up again so I am hoping to head out and take advantage of some after Christmas sales, if they even have such a thing here. Basically if something is on sale in Iceland that means that it is a normal price to me and I can justify buying it. Also on the agenda is The Hobbit, which I am so looking forward to! Hope everyone had a great Christmas with their families!

Question of the day?
How was your Christmas this year?