My family and I are spending Christmas in Iceland this year.

What is very common in the discussion in Iceland before Christmas is the weather. Actually the weather is a very common topic in Iceland in general. No wonder, as the location of this rock in the Atlantic offers all kinds of weather, often in the same day.

The discussion around the holiday season involves conversations about whether Christmas will be red or white this year. Red Christmas meaning a no snow Christmas. White Christmas: like in the song.

Some people don´t even get into the Christmas spirit unless Christmas is white.

The reason for that is that sometimes, in the past, beautiful heavy snow has fallen around Christmas time, making the little towns of Iceland and the capital even more beautiful and peaceful. It truly is a picture perfect post card at times.

In my memory when I was a child,  the feeling of waking up on Christmas day morning, having a cup of warm real chocolate with cream, cookies and the family recipe scones with butter and smoked lamb, was the feeling of Christmas. In the memories it was always snowing during the holidays, so us,the kids could go out to make igloos and snow men all day long, until we returned home wet from head to toe, with red cheeks and hungry like wolves.

As I have mentioned before the Icelanders love reading. The Christmas book flood is a yearly event, and Christmas day spent in pajamas, eating chocolate and reading one of the books that came from under the tree, the night before, gives the feeling of Christmas to me. If the snow is falling outside, even better. And then you just daze of from time to time because there are only 3 hours of daylight anyway that time of year.

The schools in Iceland have a long holiday and in some countries people go travelling this time of year. Some of the Icelanders even go to warm places to experience a bit more light and warmth during this hard period of time in Iceland.

Some people though would not even consider having Christmas somewhere else than home and will just jump in the nearest geothermal pool to heat up in this coldest season of the year, after a refreshing walk by the ocean. Problem solved. Because some people think that is what Christmas is about. The darkness and the Christmas lights add to the charm to this cold holiday in Iceland.

So it really doesn´t matter if Christmases are red or white. They will come whatever and hopefully everyone will have peaceful and beautiful holidays, wherever they may find themselves in the world.

More on personalized travel planning. Also for the winter holidays on www.icelandunwrapped.com