# The Christmas Whirlwind and the Salt Child *5 December 2025 · newsletter no. 3* ([click here](https://0cd21327.sibforms.com/serve/MUIFAAH2QonpZQ48zXHF4DZlSw7tfdCh2Yn7Abw35VOpmVnB34Zll0VBz_RPJES6OxBjHbVxYLoABj0dmO98-MQk1wLlt9Bk5TyC9TB8EnwQPapmZreacsJZwcsDULHQtmFQ5XJaflCG7i81JmIVRfoseqOYRYyP-hblCaur_3aBfW7a3uGvEtblKowZYpYOICetVm_s6xxyoFN4) if you'd like to be on the mailing list and get a letter 3–6 times a year) *Íslenska: [[Fréttir/2025-12-05 Jólaþeytivindan og Saltbarnið|Jólaþeytivindan og Saltbarnið]]* ![[myndir/Fréttir/2025-12-05 Jólaþeytivindan 0 - Snjóskegg.jpg]] ## The Christmas whirlwind I love Christmas, but it has sometimes been crazy in our house, especially when I've been following up a new release. Then I'm a total whirlwind – all over the place, lots of balls in the air and everything at the last minute. ![[myndir/Fréttir/2025-12-05 Jólaþeytivindan 1 - Hestur.jpg]] ## Christmas rollercoaster In 2007, after the release of [[Mugiboogie (album)|Mugiboogie]] and a tour, I was running around endlessly selling CDs. On 23 December [[Rúna Esradóttir|Rúna]] went west with Eldar. I got to stand outside a shop on Laugavegur in the freezing cold and snow with Dýri (two years old), my mum and my sisters, selling CDs and handing out hot cocoa. The atmosphere was brilliant! On **Christmas Day** Dýri and I went to the airport to fly west to Rúna and Eldar, but the weather was wild. The pilot took on extra fuel and off we went. We circled for an hour over Ísafjarðardjúp. The plane bounced and bobbed as if the pilot were practising calligraphy. I told Dýri it was just a **"Christmas rollercoaster!"** We cheered every dip. Of course we turned back and landed in Reykjavík at noon. By now there was crazy weather all over the country. We got a lift and set off west by car. We were halfway up Steingrímsfjarðarheiði when the clock struck six and the Christmas mass started on Rás 1. We ate a **roast beef sandwich** and chocolate milk in the car while we listened to the priest. Just before midnight we rolled into Súðavík. There Rúna and Eldar were waiting with everything ready: the tree, the house smelling lovely, the food amazing. The Súðavík hillside road closed because of avalanches that night. It was so wonderful to get home into the arms of the family and finally relax with Rúna and the two little dudes. ![[myndir/Fréttir/2025-12-05 Jólaþeytivindan 2 - Rúna og strákarnir.jpg]] ## The Salt Child A few days later the road authority opened the Súðavík hillside for a short while so people could shop for New Year's – the weather gods clearly didn't want a Christmas holiday. For some reason I left for Ísafjörður too late, filled the car with festive food, but when I turned back the ploughing had obviously stopped and the weather had gone completely mental. I was in an old Toyota Corolla, phone battery dead, zero visibility. I turned on the radio and heard that Óli Palli was doing a show about me and my music. After ten minutes of driving, out on Arnarnes, the radio lost its signal and there was just a low hiss. I turned it up full but heard only a low hiss and crackle. I was scared stiff and thought: "Don't go off the edge! Where's the next marker post?" By the time I got to the spot on the Súðavík hillside where most avalanches fall, every muscle in my body was tense. Head glued to the windscreen looking for a post – total terror. Then suddenly the radio cut back in at full volume and there's a child whispering: **"She killed me! Took me down to the sea and killed me."** Then it cut out again. Was Death himself sending me a message? Óli Palli was playing a song of mine called [[10 - Salt|Salt]], where that whispering voice appears. I thought: "What a fate! Satan himself serving a man notice halfway up the hillside, and of course he uses my own song." I laughed a little and thought: "If this is how I'm going to die, I might as well put my foot down and take the chance." Somehow, miraculously, I made it into Súðavík with the New Year's roast. Put the food away and lay down on the sofa while the boys watched *Toy Story*. Then we went out to play in the snow. Life. ![[myndir/Fréttir/2025-12-05 Jólaþeytivindan 3 - Rör.jpg]] I miss the Westfjords very much at this time of year; the mountains are so majestic, snow everywhere, and the people huddle together and you feel the warmth and humour in the villages. Now we're celebrating Christmas for the first time in our little Christmas house in Mosó. We're going to get ourselves Christmas onesies and keep it super cosy – fell a tree from our garden and load it with fairy lights and decorations. I truly hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. **Merry Christmas, dear friends!** > [!note]- Plugs – as they were in the letter > **Me, [[KK]], [[Jón Jónsson]] and [[Þorleifur Gaukur Davíðsson|Þorleifur Gaukur]]** – in Reykjavík, Mosó, Selfoss, Akranes and Akureyri. Messing about and playing our best songs. %% Þýðing á Fréttir/2025-12-05 Jólaþeytivindan og Saltbarnið.md í rödd Mugison, Claude 23. okt 2026. Mugison les yfir. %%