Today is the last day of the All Things Iceland 15-day Christmas series. To hear about the Icelandic Yule Lads that have arrived during this time period, and an overview of this series, check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13 and Day 14.

This episode dives into what happens to the Icelandic Yule Lads after Christmas. Below is the Icelandic and English version of the last part of the poem by Jóhannes úr Kötlum.

Á sjálfa jólanóttina, 

Svo tíndust þeir í burtu, 

Fyrir löngu á fjöllunum 

On Christmas night itself

Then one by one they trotted off

Their footprints in the highlands

On this day, which is Christmas eve for many in the US, Icelanders have the tradition of getting dressed up and sitting down for dinner at 6 PM.

The main staples of the meal are usually boiled and sugared potatoes, green peas from a can, pickled red cabbage that also might be from a can, corn, laufabrauð, and some type of meat dish. My mother in law always has ptarmigan or rjúpa (which is a type of bird), but others might have beef, lamb, glazed ham or turkey.

It really depends on the family. After dinner, there is of course dessert. Later on you open gifts. Most people get a book for Christmas, so they usually go off and read their book at the end of the night. 

Starting on December 25th, the Yule Lads start to make their way back to the mountains one by one each day. The last official day of Christmas in Iceland is January 6th.

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