Santa Lucia

 When I was in elementary school, some family friends sent me a Santa Lucia outfit.  We had been to Sweden to visit and I had always loved all things Swedish (must have come with my name) and Christmas so I was thrilled to start celebrating Santa Lucia with my family.  I used to make my brothers get up early with me and I usually cook premade cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for my parents.  I have been thinking for years that I wanted to share the tradition with my girls.  On Monday we got an amazing surprise package from the same family friends in Sweden.  Inside were two crowns, dresses, treats and all sorts of fun things.  I was blown away. 

 We celebrated a couple of days late (we had the flu earlier this week.)  This morning we made Swedish pancakes with Lingon berry sauce and the traditional Lussekattor buns.  I have no idea if they were very authentic.  We also had hot chocolate with whipped cream.  After we prepared some plates of treats, we made our way through the foot of snow that fell in our yard last night (I guess we ordered an authentic Swedish day?) and took some treats to a few family members and friends.  We had to limit it to people on our street because the kids just have to many friends they wanted to make deliveries to and it took us hours to make everything and deliver even with the limitations set.  We have a long street.

Thank you, thank you Lena and Gert!