Published December 13, 2019

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?

The next three Yule Lads—this is the weekend after all, and a weekend out just isn’t the same without your friends—are Stúfur, Þvörusleikir and Pottaskefill. These three dudes are big fans of kitchenware, as they are very fond of scraping, licking, and eating the crust off of pans, spoons and pots respectively. So you would do well to make sure all your cooking utensils are clean, unless you want these guys to lick them spotless. We’re not ones to judge.

Most importantly, though, they will be bringing an authentic Icelandic wool blanket from Rammagerðin to the lucky winner!

So, dear reader, we’re praying for you. Get tagging here—and if you don’t win today, check out our page tomorrow for the next gift.

A note: the winner of yesterday’s two tickets to the Golden Circle Tour contest was Δέσποινα Ιωάννου, as we have been told she is very keen on becoming an Icelander, and doesn’t own a car. Congrats to her! Stay tuned for Monday’s winner!