Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.12.2013, Qupperneq 21

21
Hafnarhús
Tryggvagata 17,
101 Rvk.
Open 10-17
Thursdays 10-20
Kjarvalsstaðir
Flókagata, 105 Rvk.
Open 10-17
Ásmundarsafn
Sigtún, 105 Rvk.
May-Sept.:
Open 10-17
Okt.-Apr.:
Open 13-17
One Ticket - Three Museums
Open Daily
Guided tour in English available every Friday at
11am. in June, July and August at Kjarvalsstaðir
www.artmuseum.is
Tel: (354) 590 1200
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Xmas
Christmas crazed
Anne was born in Scotland but was ad-
opted to, and raised, in Iceland. Grow-
ing up, the holidays kind of smelled
like burning ammonia. Her mother was
a hairdresser who worked out of their
home and was busiest around Christ-
mas, particularly with perms. Even so,
Christmas day was the time she got her
mother all to herself.
“I’ve always been crazy about Christ-
mas,” she says. “And to have a shop
based entirely around Christmas, you
have to be a little crazy.”
The year-round decorations and
Christmas kitsch she sold out of her
garage attracted tourists to her home
at all hours. Her garden was often teem-
ing with guests to whom she served
coffee and encouraged long visits. The
scheme lasted for about four years until
it became too much to live at work. One
Sunday morning, a woman came knock-
ing on her door very early, asking if she
could see the Christmas shop. She was
visiting from East Iceland and had to
return that day. Anne threw a raincoat
on over her pajamas and watched the
woman walk around for twenty minutes,
choose not to purchase anything and
leave.
“I couldn’t get any peace and quiet,”
she says. “So I said to my husband, that’s
it, we have to move to a new spot.”
Icelandic santa
She moved it all into a space on
Laugavegur, just three streets away
from her garage, and kept the name
Litla Jólabúðin. The shop has been open
year-round for about eight years now
and Anne is there every day of the week.
Litla Jólabúðin survives the summer-
time due to the droves of tourists and
its choice location. During the summer
months of July and August, about 70
percent of her business is selling spe-
cifically Icelandic hand-made Christmas
products to foreigners.
In addition to her adult customers,
Anne sees a lot of wide-eyed kids from
all over the world come in to her store.
Many of them buy Christmas letters that
they can send to “Icelandic Santa” with
the guarantee that, come Christmas,
they’ll receive a letter and a treat from
him in the mail.
Typically Icelandic Santa will visit the
shop around December 12, Anne ex-
plains with a playful smile, but he’s been
anxious to come sooner and has already
made one appearance this winter. Still,
he’s very preoccupied with responding
to and sending out those letters. In all of
his Christmas preparations, Anne hopes
he will not forget the large red boots that
he’s left outside of the shop for some
time now.
In addition to Icelandic Santa, Anne
shares many stories of the Christmas
traditions of Iceland and the thirteen
Yuletide Lads with her customers. This
has put a good scare into some foreign
children, who have never encountered
the fear that colors the Christmas expe-
rience of their Icelandic counterparts.
Kind of a Christmas break
Anne’s own home takes on the aesthetic
of Litla Jólabúðin over the holidays,
though none of her own decorations
come from the shop. She once placed a
Santa statue from Litla Jólabúðin in her
living room and couldn’t shake herself
from thinking about work. Since then,
she uses only items she’s found at other
Christmas shops on her travels.
The many Icelanders who depend on
Litla Jólabúðin to prepare their homes
for the holidays will sometimes tell her
they miss when the store was in the ga-
rage and they had to follow Santa’s foot-
steps through the garden.
Anne takes an appreciative look
around the cheer and warm sparkle of
her shop and expresses an important
part of Christmas for most who work
year round—the simple significance
of taking a break. “I’m happy with this
place,” she says. “I’m done taking my
work home with me.”
Jingle Bells In July
Twelve years ago, Reykjavík’s “Little Christmas Shop”
(Litla Jólabúðin) opened up in Anne Helen Lindsay’s ga-
rage. Hers was the house with the Christmas lights up
year round and the painted Santa Claus footsteps mark-
ing a path through her garden. She had been import-
ing token goods like puffin dolls and magnets for tourist
shops in the city, but business was slow in the wintertime
when those stores were just trying to sell back stock
that hadn’t been picked up by summer visitors. Anne
started importing Christmas items to entice the stores to
set up Christmas sections and keep things fresh in the
wintertime. Due to large demand, her Christmas imports
spilled into her garage and suddenly, Christmas became
a year-round celebration there.
Words
Alex Baumhardt
Nanna Dís