Saturday, December 13, 2008

Happy Santa Lucia!

So we're not Swedish.  Or Scandinavian.  But we do dig Ikea, swedish meatballs, lingonberries and a reason to celebrate...so this year, we decided to have ourselves a little Santa Lucia feast ;0)

 

I found a yummy sounding recipe for Santa Lucia bread and thought we'd give it a try this morning.  It was a real collective effort.  I measured all the ingredients and Julian helped me mix them together and then everyone had a hand at kneading the dough.


It didn't rise properly though so I think I may have killed the yeast when I unwittingly poured some scalding milk into the yeast mixture (don't do that).  But I baked it anyway and it still turned out pretty okay.  It certainly was pretty ;0)


Oh, and there was crafting too (thank you Kiddley archives)!  According to Santa Lucia tradition, the eldest daughter wears a crown of leaves and candles on her head while boys wear pointy hats with stars.  But since we have no daughters and the dunce-like boys caps just didn't have the right pizazz for our two, we decided to make ourselves some crowns anyway.  


I cut out leaves from sticky craft foam and everyone helped to stick them onto the crowns.  Then came some pompom berries, popsicle stick candles and feather flames.  What a glorious way to craft away a snowy December morning! 


We put it all together with a feast right out of Ikea's grocery section:  swedish meatballs, cream sauce, lingonberry jam and cider and some fries and salad to round it out.  Perfect!  The boys especially liked the little plastic wine glasses filled with apple and lingonberry cider.


Our bread wasn't ready in time for lunch (I was giving it more time to rise but it really didn't want to) so we had it picnic-style around our tree during our advent stocking celebration at the end of the day.  It was pretty good and the perfect sweet ending to a wonderful day feast day ;0)


Happy Santa Lucia!


17 comments:

  1. How sweet! As a kid, I remember first learning about Santa Lucia in one of the Kirsten books in the American Girl series (I don't suppose those ever made it big in Canada!) and wishing my family were Swedish so I could wear a crown of candles on my head.

    I should have taken your approach and done it anyway just because it's fun!

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  3. It's always a delight to read about the special times you create to celebrate with your children -- you've clearly realized that it's not about the 'stuff' that you give your kids that matters in the long term, but about the time spent together and the memories.

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  4. Cute! We celebrate Santa Lucia day too--We are about as far from Nordic as you can get (latin american) but my oldest daughter is Lucia so it seems only right!

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  5. Ahhh, so cute! The bread looks like it turned out very pretty, but yes, you probably killed the yeast!! Warm water!! Everyone looks as though they had such a fun, memorable time!

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  6. I dig Ikea food too! People think i am weird when I say I went there just for lunch. We celebrate Day of The Dead & we aren't Mexican. Go figure.

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  7. It sure looks like everyone had fun. Love the laughing faces... and the bread is beautiful to look at. Wonderful to build memories for your kids.

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  8. I AM Swedish & I think you did a great job! My oldest would do the dress up in the morning and her crown was made with artificial leaves & candles that lit with a battery. When I was young & I was St Lucia, & I wanted to make the bread. It looked beautiful, but nobody could cut it. My dad got a saw - no kidding,I laugh even now -and managed to cut a small piece. He gave it to me. I couldn't even bite it. I looked at dad,he looked at me & I tossed it to the door where it made a huge clunk sound. My dad said it was the best hockey puck bread he ever saw. I tried again at Easter, when you put whole eggs-colored-sticking out of the top of the bread. We all went nuts again when it too turned out to be hockey puck bread. I never tried again, but your success has made me rethink it since I make bread all the time. Maybe this will be the year I get it right! Kudos to you for a great holiday tradition & wonderful memories. I know I'll never live down the hockey puck bread-I wonder if it had something to do with 2 of my sisters' boys play hockey hehe!

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  11. Not matter if you're Swedish or youn aren't, the important is you have the spirit to celebrate this day. I do the same with St Patrick's day, and I' not Irish.

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  12. Adorable! Look how much fun they are having!!

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