St. Lucia

The Queen of Light paid us a visit this morning.

It was St. Lucia's Day (well, really it's tomorrow, but as Monday is a school day, we chose to celebrate a day early).

Our 5-year-old taught us about St. Lucia this week. Lucia is the patron saint of light and Scandinavians have a way of celebrating her that inspired our little girl to bring this tradition into our family's holiday calendar.

It involves a queen, a long white gown, sweet treats and some very big-girlish responsibilities.

The Swedes, in particular, recognize St. Lucia as follows:

On the morning of St. Lucia's Day, the oldest daughter in the household rises before the rest of her family. She dresses in a white gown and wears a wreath with candles as a crown. She represents the Queen of Light.

The job of the queen is to bring light on the darkest day of the year.

(We're glad St. Lucia's Day falls on Dec. 13 and not on the actual winter solstice, as we have a very important birthday to celebrate that day.)



The queen then prepares coffee and sweet buns to serve to her family. Our queen stayed up late last night with her papa to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.



Can you smell them?



The queen then sings a song to let everyone know it's time to get out of bed and come to the table. We were treated to a truly ethereal presentation of "Silent Night."

She makes sure everyone is served.



And when everyone has had enough to eat, the full light of morning streams through the windows and the little queen is deeply pleased with her work.



With that, I think we've established a new holiday tradition in our home, and I'd like to think our little girl's take on St. Lucia would make my Norwegian ancestors smile.