For most people, the holiday season is over. That is, unless you celebrate Christmas the Icelandic way.

Every year, Orem resident and Iceland native Oli Olafsson and his family blend their American holiday celebrations with Icelandic traditions, which feature 13 Santas and 26 days of Christmas. The last day of the celebration is Sunday.

Olafsson met his wife, Yvonne, when she was working for Novell and he came to the Provo office on a business trip. The two have been married for 25 years. In the early years of their marriage, they had homes in both the United States and Iceland, and divided their time between the locations, but have spent the last 16 years raising their family of six children in their southwest Orem home.

Olafsson said the Icelandic sagas of the 13 Santas originated long before the white-bearded, red-clad Santa image from Germany. The 13 Christmas lads are the sons of a troll, Gryla, and her husband, Leppaludi, who is, Olafsson said, a "wimp" and "a total loser."

The 13 are known to be "mischievous like nothing else," and have names like Pot licker, Meat snatcher and Door slammer -- names that accurately describe their tricks and activities. The 26 days of Christmas have the Santas coming one by one, then departing one by one.

As the 13 Santas come into town, the story is that they peek into windows to see if children are behaving well, and if so, leave a little piece of fruit or hard candy in a shoe. But fruit and candy were rare treats in the Iceland of Olafsson's boyhood, so his mother spent most of the month of December baking 20-30 different kinds of cookies, plus a four-layer cake and homemade bread as Christmas treats.

Olafsson's father was an airline executive and sometimes brought treats home from his travels.

"Christmas came in a tin," Olafsson said. "There were brown, assorted candies in the tin. My father would bring it once a year, and Christmas had arrived, in our minds, when it was opened."

The imported Christmas tree was decorated on Dec. 24 by Olafsson's father, and he remembers when lit candles were still used on the trees.

"Christmas there was very, very magical, based on the fact that it was truly Christmas," Olafsson said. "It was definitely a celebration of the birth of Christ, and that never left anyone's mind."

The last day, Jan. 6, coincides with the annual moving day of elves, the time, according to tradition, that elves emerge from their cliffs, rocks and dwelling places to change locations.

"The elves are visible just that one day to humans, and you better not be in their way," Olafsson said. "The Icelandic culture is very inundated with ghosts, trolls, elves and beings of strange origin."

"Education is excellent and literacy is high in Iceland," Yvonne said, "but many people still believe in elves and trolls."

A recent United Nations report named Iceland as "the best place to live" in the world, based on factors such as life expectancy, literacy, education and economics.

The extended Christmas celebration wasn't included in the factors. Olafsson said the country not only has the excellent educational system and high literacy rate, but also has a low infant mortality rate and high life-expectancy numbers. The country is largely non-religious, with a materialistic mind set, active night life and socialized government programs, he said.

Orem and Iceland are "as different as apples and oranges," in his view.

"We have talked about going back, but it does not match our lifestyle," he explained. "For people who subscribe to that style of living, it is a great place. It's a fun place. It's a prosperous place. It depends on your perspective."

The Olafssons have combined traditions for their own family's celebration.

"We compromise by putting the tree up 13 days before Christmas, rather than right after Halloween," Olafsson said. "Although the elves stay until the 13th day after Christmas, we take the tree down on New Year's Eve. The family is together. All presents are opened on the 24th, except one from Santa that is there on the morning of the 25th. We mix Icelandic foods like caramelized potatoes, homemade bread and Christmas cake (with or without raisins) into the menus."

In a typical Icelandic home, "books are everywhere," and Olafsson said that although he and Yvonne have tried to "minimize the presents," there is one absolute in his household. "Everybody gets a book. It is not Christmas unless everyone gets a book."

"We have taught our children that Santa Claus exists," Olafsson said. "He exists as the spirit of giving that is within each and every one of us, and the white-beared, 'ho-ho-ho' guy is a symbol to help us remember."