“On the night of the 23rd everyone walks down Laugarvegur, the main shopping street in Reykjavik,” says Bergthora Laxdal, Secretary at Iceland’s Consulate General in New York. “Either to do their last minute shopping or just to breathe in the feeling of Christmas and to see and be seen.”
If you’re nowhere near Laugarvegur, however, you can still recreate a bit of Icelandic holiday feel in your home.
“Mix one part malt soda with one part orange soda, and you have a very traditional Christmas drink. We drink it with basically everything,” Laxdal says.
And in the country that brought us the amazing Sagas, there cannot be holidays without books.
“Christmas is the time for reading,” finishes Laxdal. “Everyone needs a book under the tree to enjoy on the lazy days of Christmas.”

More on Christmas in Scandinavia