This is my last email to you before I go full ‘goblin mode’.

The Oxford English Dictionary’s word (or phrase) of the year 2022, goblin mode is described as “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”

For my family, goblin mode means meals made solely out of beige finger food eaten in front of movies featuring The Rock.

It’s also time to set my out-of-office reply.

But this year I’m getting help.

As part of efforts to highlight Iceland as a travel destination, the country’s wonderfully bonkers tourism office has trained several horses to type out-of-office emails on a giant keyboard. It’s calling the free service “out-horse your email.”

I chose the pretty horse Hekla frá Þorkellshóli, who apparently is ‘trained in corporate buzzwords’.  She/he wrote the message below.

(Written better than most emails I see, that’s for sure.)

So I’ll say goodbye for 2022 – thank you for reading, and for all your comments and replies that make me laugh (and think).

Wishing you and your loved ones the happiest of holidays.