Christmas All Year Round While some would argue that Christmas has been overly commercialised and become too fast and impersonal, the Little Christmas Shop on Laugavegur Street is living proof that the spirit of Christmas is being kept alive by those who cherish it. The Little Christmas Shop was opened over ten years ago and the owner, Anne Helen, says she never gets tired of Christmas, even though the shop is open all year round. "I had always been a bit fanatic about Christmas and over ten years ago, I decided to let my dream come true and open my very own Christmas shop. At first, I operated out of my garage and the initial response was so good that people started showing up at the strangest times to do some Christmas shopping. Then I decided to relocate to the centre of Reykjavik five years ago and it has been my second home ever since," says Anne Helen. Specialities in a Small Size Shop Even though the shop is, by most comparisons, rather diminutive in size, you'd be amazed by the amount of Christmas items in there. Anne Helen is relentless in her search for new and exciting items. "I regularly scour conferences and markets for days on end looking for something unique for my store. I try to find something that you can't easily find elsewhere and my customers seem to appreciate that. The creative types in Iceland have also been very enthusiastic and frequently contact me with their ideas and products," says Anne Helen. Only in Iceland The Icelandic holiday traditions are, of course, prevalent in the store, as Anne Helen will tell you. "The Icelandic Yule lads are of course a unique heritage and I'm especially proud to have many different variations of them on my shelves. Their mischievous ways, their troll mother and her giant cat provide inspiration for so many imaginative items that you can't find anywhere else on the planet," says Anne Helen. The age old tradition of making special deep fried bread, called Laufabrauð, with elaborate geometric leaf-like patterns has also inspired some of the local craftspeople. "Families and friends would gather before Christmas and cut the patterns in the flat bread before it was fried and it has since become a tradition. The patterns are like the Icelandic wool sweater—uniquely Icelandic," says Anne Helen. Due to popular demand from both old and new customers abroad, who've either heard about the store or regretted not buying enough while they were there, Anne Helen is in the finishing stages of opening her own web-store. Litla Jólabúðin Laugavegi 8 • Reykjavík +354 552 2412 www.xmasiceland.is

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