Celebrating Santa Lucia

This year, I was invited to celebrate the Scandinavian holiday of Santa Lucia for the first time. Lydia and Colleen and I decided to surprise our Norwegian friend Sandra on the holiday. Traditionally, the celebration involves the eldest daughter dressing as Lucia in a white gown, red sash, and a crown of candles, bearing a tray of lussekatt (sweet rolls), and leading a procession of women to awaken the mother, singing the traditional Santa Lucia song.

Since we were aware that Sandra is an early riser, we wanted to get to her house by 6am to make sure she'd still be asleep. So we gathered at Lydia's at 5am on what turned out to be the coldest day of the winter thus far, at 0°F. We dressed in white gowns and red sashes, and Colleen adorned me with a crown of candles (actually lights) and spruce boughs.

We parked a few blocks away from Sandra's home and walked on the greenbelt trail to her house, in the darkness of 3 hours before dawn, lit by my candles. (We passed no one, unfortunately, which would have been amusing.) In the street outside her home, we quietly assembled the tray of coffee, sugar, cream, sweet rolls, butter, fruit, and candles, and hoped the front door would be unlocked. Alas, it was not. We were about to knock when suddenly the door opened! Sandra's husband John beamed when he realized what we were doing and ushered us in, whispering, "Hurry, she's still asleep!"

We walked in to her bedroom and begun singing the song (which none of us actually knew how to sing, but we had the lyrics.) Sandra lay sleeping face up and continued to sleep through the beginning of the song...then opened her eyes and saw us, three figures with candles in a dark room singing. Her face lit up and she put her hands on her cheeks, delighted, and declared this the best day of her entire life! She'd never been "Santa Lucia'd" before and she was amazed that we went to such lengths, right down to the beautifully spiraled rolls that Colleen had made the night before.

The four of us sat on her bed and ate our breakfast, enjoying the morning and celebrating until the sun came up 3 hours later. It was a wonderful, festive day and a great start to the holiday season!

Afterward as we walked back to the car, Lydia took this picture of me and Colleen—you can see our breath!