This workshop is about layering up to get the juices flowing so that you can create a few smaller pieces then be in the mood for the finale, a longer piece which makes use of your previous ideas. Take each idea in turn, and enjoy!
Activity 1 – Christmassy Items – Haiku
(15 minutes) Pick three of the Christmassy items below and write either a Haiku, or a well crafted sentence, grasping the festive essence of each one.
| Holly | Mistletoe | Plum pudding | Baubles | Christmas fairy | Elf | Tinsel | Wrapping paper | Open fire |
| Christmas carol | Santa’s sack | Santa | Christmas stocking | Twelfth Night | Brussel sprouts | Advent calendar | Roast turkey | stuffing |
| Cracker | Secret Santa | Angel | Nativity | Little Donkey | Baby Jesus | Mary & Joseph | Chestnuts | Yule log |
| Mince Pies | Chimney | Brandy sauce | Reindeer | 3 wise men | Stable | Star | Snowman | Gingerbread House |
Activity 2 – Christmas Carols – Flash Fiction
(15 minutes) Pick two carols. You may change one word in each of them, or leave them as they are. Write a mini flash fiction of up to 150 words on whatever this inspires in your creative mind.
| We Three Kings | God rest ye merry gentleman | Once in Royal David’s city | O come all ye faithful |
| Joy to the World | O little town of Bethlehem | Ding Dong merrily on high | Silent night |
| In the bleak midwinter | Jingle Bells | Hark the herald angels sing | It came upon a midnight clear |
| Away in a manger | While shepherds watched | Good King Wenceslas | The holly and the ivy |
| Angels from the realms of glory | The first noel | Deck the halls with boughs of holly | O holy night |
Activity 3 – The Twelve Days of Christmas and the 13 Yule Lads – Icelandic Tradition – Flash Fiction
Pick one of each. The task now is to incorporate all your choices into that wonderful Christmas tradition of writing a spooky, creepy, or traditional ghost story to be read around the blazing fire in the long dark winter nights.
| Partridge in a pear tree | 2 turtle doves | 3 French hens | 4 Calling birds |
| 5 Gold rings | 6 geese a laying | 7 swans a swimming | 8 maids a milking |
| 9 ladies dancing | 10 Lords a leaping | 11 Pipers piping | 12 drummers drumming |
| Icelandic name | English translation | Description |
| Stekkjarstaur | Sheepcote Clod | Harasses sheep, but is impaired by his stiff peg-legs. |
| Giljagaur | Gully Gawk | Hides in gullies, waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the cowshed and steal milk. |
| Stúfur | Stubby | Abnormally short. Steals pans for the food baked to the bottoms and brims. |
| Þvörusleikir | Spoon Licker | Steals wooden spoons being used for cooking. Extremely thin from malnutrition. |
| Pottaskefill | Pot Scraper | Steals pots to scrape out the leftovers. |
| Askasleikir | Bowl Licker | Hides under beds awaiting the wooden food bowls placed on the floor. |
| Hurðaskellir | Door Slammer | Enjoys slamming doors, especially during the night, waking up the household. |
| Skyrgámur | Skyr Gobbler | Has a great affinity for skyr, a regional style of yogurt. |
| Bjúgnakrækir | Sausage Swiper | Hides in the rafters and snatches sausages that are being smoked. |
| Gluggagægir | Window Peeper | A snoop who looks through windows in search of things to steal. |
| Gáttaþefur | Doorway Sniffer | Has an abnormally large nose and an acute sense of smell used to locate leaf bread (laufabrauð). |
| Ketkrókur | Meat Hook | Uses a hook to steal meat. |
| Kertasníkir | Candle Beggar | Follows children to steal their precious candles, made of tallow and thus edible. |
Sara Burgess – December 2023
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