The grandchildren are coming to town – the darling, Bjössi

Has sincerely stamped itself into the minds and hearts of people.

The Artist in Residence for Hafnarfjörður this year is the musician Björn Thoroddsen, or Bjössi Thor, as he is commonly known. The sweetheart Bjössi has, in his sincere and beautiful way, stamped himself into the minds and hearts of people all over the world, received numerous accolades and has truly enriched the cultural life of his hometown of Hafnarfjörður with his events. 

Busy playing games in Advent

Like most musicians, Bjössi is very busy playing during Advent and has, for instance, travelled widely around the country and even abroad at this time of year.. „I've done very little else and my wife, Elín Margrét Erlingsdóttir, has taken care of all the Christmas preparations at home. So you could say there's a definite division of labour between us.“ Bjössi certainly knows how to enjoy Advent and Christmas too, and for example, he loves going to the centre of Hafnarfjörður with his wife and grandchildren. The Christmas Village and Hellisgerði are his absolute favourites. „We don't really have any particular tradition, and it's actually just a case of working around my availability and then making a point of enjoying every moment.“

Bjössi amusingly recalls that before the centre of Hafnarfjörður became as lively and crowded as it is today, he would, as a boy, always go with his mother to Reykjavík on Christmas Eve by bus from Hafnarfjörður. „I thought Laugavegur was incredibly long and I was dead tired after walking between shops with my mum. But my mum had a sister who lived on Snorrabraut and we always ended up at hers for cake, and then somehow it was all worth the effort.

This content is from the 2022 Hafnarfjörður Christmas magazine.