Santa Lucia 2021

If you've been following my blog for a time, you would know that I LOVE traditions and I LOVE my Swedish heritage. So any time I can find a new Swedish tradition to celebrate in my home, I'm all in!! (You can see the last 2 years of celebrating Santa Lucia here and here. As well as our Swedish midsummer parties here and here!) 

On December 12th, the kids and I baked up a storm. We baked the traditional pepparkakor and Lussekatter buns to celebrate Lucia day. All December I've been reading them a kids book called Lucia Morning in Sweden which is just adorable, and explains how a typical family in Swedish celebrates Lucia day. 

I love Celebrating Lucia day because it is a beautiful opportunity to talk with your children about the real St. Lucia and the way she gave of herself for others. It also illustrates the how Christ is truly the light that came in to the darkness. In the morning, when Avonlea puts on her Lucia crown, the light fills the darkness and demonstrates the power of light:) 

On the morning of the 13th, Avonlea and Everett and I woke up early and put on their costumes...Avonlea was Lucia in the white gown and crown of light, and Everett was Star Boy. (Ollie was a last minute star boy too hehe). I filled Avonlea's tray with pepparkakor and lussekator and then she ascended the stairs singing the traditional Lucia song (we learned it in English from a lady on YouTube here). 

Kevin kindly pretended to be asleep (haha), and the kids "surprised" him with their tray of goodies. We hung out upstairs, and then went down to Yukino's room (our exchange student from Japan) to sing to her and bring treats. 

We then headed to my parents house to sing and bring treats. My dad is Swedish, so it's a lot of fun going over there! Then, the rest of the afternoon Avonlea and Everett and I went to different widows houses that we know. We had such a lovely time surprising them with Santa Lucia treats and a song:) 

Enjoy the pictures! xoxo 

Breakfast in Bed // The Tradition Series

If there is one tradition I want to share with you from my own life, it's this one. And since today is my birthday, it's the perfect time! My parents were pure genius to start this tradition in our family, and every year I look forward to it with much anticipation. Here's how it goes…

Each year on my birthday, I would wake up to breakfast in bed. The night before, my mom would ask me what I wanted to eat for my special day. As a child, she would take me to the grocery store and let me pick out any cereal I wanted (which was a big deal because we usually were not allowed to eat sugar cereal, so of course I gravitated towards the most ridiculous cereals like cookie crisp and cinnamon toast crunch! ha ha!! Go crazy, I know!). As I got older, I'd usually ask for Swedish pancakes! Every year the food always went atop a special red plate that read "You are Special"!! 

The morning of my birthday I would be woken up to my entire family (parents and siblings!) all singing happy birthday. {I usually woke up before that, soooo giddy, but would pretend I was asleep!} My parents would carry the tray of food with candles lit, and my siblings would come bearing all my gifts in their arms! I'd eat a few bites, and then someone would drop a present in my lap to open! It was such a fun morning, and set the cheerful and celebratory tune for the rest of the day! 

Since being married, Kevin and I have tried to carry this tradition on. It is absolutely one we plan to start doing with our children as well. I cannot think of a better way to tell a child they are So special and loved, than to start their birthday focused on them, brining cheer and happiness to their bedroom! The fun part about this, is that even when it wasn't my birthday, I LOVED being a part of my sibling's and parent's special days! 

As I mentioned above, for most of my teen and adult life, my special birthday breakfast was always Swedish pancakes (which is essentially a crepe!). When I found out I was gluten and dairy free, I gave up eating crepes. But just recently I found an AMAZING paleo crepe recipe that I wanted to share with you. These paleo crepes are the easiest things to make, and are perfect for a special morning! 

Paleo Crepes: 

Five eggs
1/2 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons honey
dash of salt

Mix all ingredients together and pour on hot skillet with coconut oil. Cook about 1 min on each side. Cut up fresh berries to top the crepes, and then drizzle a little pure maple syrup over them. Perfection!

Celebrating Santa Lucia Day

I have literally waited YEARS to celebrate Santa Lucia with my sweet daughter. Growing up in a household that took our Swedish roots VERY seriously, i'm always surprised that our family never celebrated Lucia day. So naturally when I found out more about it about 8 years ago, I started dreaming of the day I could crown our daughter with a wreath of candles and bake with her a plate of Swedish buns:) 

Traditions have always been important to me. They bring a nostalgic gleam of safety and comfort, that the world is still right and good, and we are still loved. Maybe that's overdramatic, but in the craziness of the world today, I seem to find so much solace in repeating the traditions of my childhood, the warm and familiar feelings that I belong…this is my place. 

So now as a mama to two (and hopefully more in the future), I have spent a lot of time thinking and praying and journaling over the traditions I want to start in my own home. My prayer is that my kiddos see Jesus, bright and beautiful and bursting forth to capture our hearts. 

Sweden revels in Lucia day, which is December 13th. When I've visited with my cousins in Sweden, they all know the special Lucia song (which I've tried to learn in Swedish SO many times and have crashed and burned miserably...but am hoping to learn the English version for my daughter's sake!). There is an official Lucia service that is aired on TV the morning of the 13th that the whole country watches. I watched some on YouTube and cried it was so beautiful! 

But the point of the holiday is to celebrate St. Lucia and the coming of light into the darkness. There are lots of stories that talk about Lucia's significance, but the two that I've read most are as follows:

1) St. Lucy, whose name Lucia refers to "light" is known to have been a Sicilian saint who suffered a sad death in Siracusa, Sicily, around AD 310. She had been engaged to a pagan, and she instead decided to give away her dowry to the poor. The man she had been engaged to was so enraged he reported her to the authorities for being a Christian where she was attacked and died a martyr.

2) Legend also has it that she brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candlelit wreath on her head to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible. 

But the basic gist is that she was a kind and compassionate saint who cared for the poor and spent her life wanting to give to others. 

I'm no expert, but the basic tradition in Sweden is that the first born daughter (if you have more than one daughter they take turns each year) arise early on December 13th and dress in a white dress, with a red sash, and a crown made of leave and candles. She bakes Lussekkater, or saffron buns, and brings the buns and coffee to the rest of the family who are still fast asleep in bed. The light from her candles signify the light of Christ coming into the world. 

So this year, I got my act together and bought this electric candle wreath on Amazon, and this sweet children's book that describes one family in Sweden celebrating Lucia day. I prepped Avonlea a few days before by explaining who Lucia is and what the day looks like. We watched a service on YouTube and I read her the sweet book from above called Lucia Morning in Sweden. 

Avonlea was So excited to celebrate it, I literally almost died of happiness by how much she was getting into it, haha! We put on her crown and white dress, tied the red sash, and I gave her a tray of buns and coffee. Before you start thinking I'm super organized, I'm not really. The night before I realized I didn't have saffron and cognac, which go in the real Lucia buns, so I just took gluten free sugar cookie dough that I had on hand and shaped them into the bun shapes, haha!! There are supposed to be currants on the buns, and I didn't have them, so I perused my trail mix on hand and found that I did have dried blueberries, haha!! It worked, and the memory of it was still special! 

I made Kevin go and act like he was sleeping, and I put on Lucia music, turned out all the lights and let her crown light the way to our bedroom where she woke Kevin up all excited. We all sat in bed, eating treats, and talking about light coming into the darkness, and how Jesus is the light of the world. It was a sweet day, and it was pretty deep considering Avonlea is only 2.5 years old, haha! But she loved it and a few hours later, told me she wanted to "do it again!". Next year!! 

Have you ever celebrated Lucia day?? xoxo 

Friday Night & Homemade Pizza! // The Tradition Series

In honor of it being Friday (HOORAY!!! TGIF MAN!!), I thought i'd post a Friday tradition that the sweet Rachel submitted!! I "met" Rachel a few years ago through blogging, and she is seriously a gem! You may not meet a kinder soul in the blogging world! She grew up partially in China, and now lives in Memphis with her husband where they are doing AMAZING things in their community, like investing in youth and volunteering with sex-trafficking victims! I'm such a HUGE proponent for making family memories, which is why I love her tradition so much…maybe you might incorporate it into your family's traditions?!!
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My parents are big believers in meals together as a family at the table. In the nearly 17 years I lived at home I can hardly think of more than a handful of times that I ate alone. We all sat around our big table and ate and talked. However, once a week on Friday nights, instead of gathering around the table we would gather around the television. Now, this was a novelty for us, as my parents had cut cable in the early 1990's, and from them on were very intentional about what our family watched! So watching tv was quite exciting for us!!

Someone would pop a movie into the VCR and we'd all chow down on our homemade pizza while we watched the classics (think Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Jimmie Stewart, and Audrey Hepburn). Classics, my friends. :) 

Speaking of that homemade pizza... it was a vital part of pizza & a movie night. Mom chose pizza for our movie nights because it was an easy thing that all of us kids could help prepare. And it was one of the less messy things for us youngsters to eat somewhere other than a table. That was 21 years ago. And yet the tradition continues today. Even during the years my family lived in China we still made homemade pizza (and let me tell you, finding mozzarella cheese in Wuhan, China in the early 2000s was no easy feat). Sometimes we make veggie pizzas or pepperoni or specialty ones, but we tend to come back to my mom's pizza sauce recipe.

My parents are empty nesters now, but every Friday they still have pizza & movie night. Two of my sisters still carry on this tradition and the tradition is being passed down to another generation via my sister's kids. My husband, Christopher, has whole heartedly embraced this tradition. It's one that we look forward to continuing with our future children as well. We both love pizza and we both love to cook. So homemade pizza is a winner for us. We don't make it every single week just because we travel on the weekends so often. But if we're in town, then you better believe that our kitchen smells like rising bread, basil, tomatoes, and garlic. :)

BIO: Hi there! My name is Rach and I'm a lover of Jesus, my husband, my fuzzy mutt, travel, photography, precious friends, sweet family, good food, sunshine, and the beach! I blog over at This Italian Family (spoiler alert: I'm not really Italian... I married into it) and love meeting new people so come on by. :)

Mother Daughter Tradition // The Tradition Series

This weekend is Mother's Day, and my mom and sisters and I are headed to the most adorable spa on the central coast of California to celebrate (you can read about our weekend here). You may think that sounds pampering, but really it's a kick-butt-work-your-socks-off kind of weekend! We will pretty much be eating healthy (and yummy) food, going to 5-6 workout classes a day (yoga, zumba, dance, pilates, etc.), hiking through the Santa Barbara mountains, and just enjoying one another's company. My aunts and cousins are coming too, so it will be so perfect! I tell my family I get my workouts in for the entire year, haha! Speaking of Mother's Day, the sweet Marina submitted a post about a tradition she has with her mom!! I thought it would be fun to share today...enjoy!

Bonjour! I'm Marina, a (soon to be married!) American who now lives and works in Paris. I like museums and Mexican food and Michigan. Garlands in Paris is where I write about playing in museums, with a focus on creativity and imagination. I celebrate the little things in life that, like art and friendship, have "no survival value; rather [they are some] of those things which give value to survival" (C.S. Lewis).

An ocean currently separates me from my mom, so when we get to see each other, it's a kind of a big deal. Without meaning to, we have started a tradition of visiting museums during our visits. Fine art, it turns out, is an awesome backdrop for talking about life with my mama.

I live in Paris, so when my mom comes to visit me, there are quite a few choices of locations to get our art-fix, including special destinations that must always be visited.



I am a professional museum educator, but my passion for art is nothing compared with my mom's. The way she engages with objects is full of curiosity and a desire for connection. She finds such utter joy in the beauty of creation. Walking through an exhibition of kimonos, she stared hard at one particular garment before wondering, "How must it make you feel to wear that? How would you move? How would you hold yourself?" She couldn't look at such a beautiful object without fully engaging with it, absorbing all its luscious details, and letting her imagination run wild. When I am with my mom in a museum, I learn how to not only look at art, but how to look at life.



Art can also spark some epic conversations about life. Art and artifacts are witnesses to the human quest for meaning and the passage of time. Surrounded by such gravity, it is easy to sink into beautiful conversations about life, love, loss, the past, the future... During my last visit with my mom this winter, we made our pilgrimage to the wall of Iznik tiles in a dark corner of the Louvre. In that beautiful, calm place, we talked about my upcoming wedding. She showered me with lots mama wisdom about what it looks like to love someone well. As quickly as the conversation had taken a turn for the serious, it became instantly silly when we decided that my wedding cake will be based on those sumptuous Iznik tiles!



As I wander through museums with my mom, I am always aware of how precious our time together is. The extraordinary art around us serves as a perfect metaphor for the treasure that is a leisurely afternoon strolling with my mom.

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