Published December 21, 2018

In Iceland, Christmas is a little wacky. Instead of one Santa, we have thirteen. And rather than being a jolly old white-bearded fellow who lets children sit on his on his lap in a shopping mall and showers them with presents, our Jólasveinar—or “Yule Lads,” in English—are a tribe of mischievous little weirdos.

Starting on December 12th, the Yule Lads come down from the mountains one by one, each day until Christmas. If you’ve behaved well, they’ll put a gift in your shoe; if not, you get a potato. In honour of this harrowing game of cat and mouse, we present: the Thirteen Days Of Grapemas, where every day, a Yule Lads will deliver one of you—our beloved readers—a special Icelandic gift.

So what’s a girl gotta do to get some cool stuff in her shoe? Just tag the friends or loved ones you think are most deserving on this Facebook status, along with a damn good reason that they should win. Remember: If you don’t enter in this life, you sure won’t win. #JÓLÓ!

What’s In The Shoe Today?

Put the tupperware top on that plokkfiskur today, lest your food be tainted by a big nosed Yule Lad named Gáttaþefur—’Doorway-Sniffer’ in English. Gáttaþefur is known for sticking his olfactory receptors deep into peoples food, especially in pursuit of delicious baked goods. 

Gáttaþefur also comes bearing two tickets for a Northern Lights tour from BusTravel Iceland, which you can win today by tagging a deserving and well-behaved friend in this Facebook status. You could be zooming around the countryside following the amazing and illusive Aurora Borealis.

But what are the Northern Lights? Well, they’re formed by charged particles from solar flares that penetrate through the Earth’s magnetic shield and collide with atoms and molecules in our atmosphere. When the solar particles collide with the our atmospheric ones, the resulting ionization makes for colours such as white, green and purple, dancing across the sky. It’s something you have to see once in your life, and here’s your chance.

So, dear reader, tag your most well-behaved friend here for a chance to get this special tour. If you don’t win today, check out our page tomorrow for the next gift.

A note: The winner of yesterday’s prize—a Golden Circle tour with Reykjavík Sightseeing—was Joey Dearduff, who was nominated for letting his brother back into the house when he forgets his keys and has to become a Window Peeper. Sad you didn’t win? Book a trip here.