How awesome is the beautiful Icelandic tradition of gifting people books on Christmas Eve, then staying up all night drinking tea, eating chocolate and reading?! Known as the Jolabokaflod, the Yule Book Flood, it’s the perfect festive tradition, and I’m so grateful to my sweet hubby, who has been sharing this ritual with me since we met, long before I came across this gorgeous tradition.

“The culture of giving books as presents is very deeply rooted in how families perceive Christmas as a holiday,” says Kristjan B. Jonasson, president of the Iceland Publishers Association. “It’s the backbone of the publishing sector here.”

Perhaps it’s no accident that the country has more writers, more books published, and more books read, per head, than anywhere else in the world. I know I’ll be joining them this year!

Which books are you looking forward to reading this festive season? My list, as ever, is very long, but I’m looking forward to The Book Witch by Melanie Karsak, as well as some books by Danish faery tale writer Helena Nyblom. Some of her stories are woven into Holly Ringland’s The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, and although it took ages to track them down, as some are out of print, I managed! 

So it looks like Christmas Eve will be a lovely long night of drinking tea, eating chocolate, and reading until my eyes won’t stay open any longer.

“It’s already long past midnight, but she won’t sleep or stop until it’s done, because the air is always thicker with magic, faith and possibility at night.”
Menna van Praag, The Dress Shop of Dreams