Santa Lucia

Luciamorgon

Happy Santa Lucia Day!

As always, we started the day with lussekattes, served by our little Lucia.

We had stroganoff for dinner again this year. I’m not really sure why, but it makes for a very nice dinner on Santa Lucia Day.

For dessert, I made a cranberry cake with cream cheese frosting. This is the third year in a row I’ve made a cranberry cake for Santa Lucia Day (I really like the way the red fruit against white frosting reflects the colors of the holiday), so I guess it’s a family tradition now. I’ve never made the same cake twice, though!

This was another nice Advent day!

Santa Lucia Day 2021

Today is one of my favorite days of the year…Santa Lucia Day! Chickadee started the morning as our little Lucia, serving lussekattes to the family:

I thought about making Swedish meatballs for dinner, but I decided stroganoff would be less putzy. I served it over egg noodles, with sides of pickled beets and smoked salmon, which seemed pretty Scandinavian to me:

For dessert, I made Molly Yeh’s Bløtkake with sugared cranberries:

It was nice to have a reason to celebrate at the beginning of finals week!

Santa Lucia Day 2020

Our Santa Lucia Day celebration was a little different this year, but for once, it wasn’t because of COVID-19. Because the commemoration date fell on Sunday this year, we decided to wait until after church for our traditional lussekattes, and only Chickadee dressed up. It was very nice to get to go to church today, though, and since it’s Sunday, I decided to add a special dessert, an orange-cranberry cake, to the menu as well.

Happy Santa Lucia Day!

Lucia Morning in Belleville

Today is one of my favorite days in Advent…St. Lucia Day! We were up bright and early, and the girls donned their crowns and handed out our breakfast of lussekattes, one of my favorite things to bake at this time of year!

A Markel Family Santa Lucia Day

Santa Lucia Day is one of my favorite holidays! I love planning and preparing, especially when it comes to making the Lussekattes and setting up the night before:

The girls all still love dressing up, and while it may not be traditional, they all dress as Santa Lucia. This was the fifth year using the crowns I made for them!

We even had a Swedish dinner! I’m so glad St. Louis has an IKEA now, because it made planning our meal so much easier. We had Swedish meatballs with gravy, egg noodles, lingonberry juice, and for dessert, Swedish sandwich cookies, plus Dala Horse and Sour Viking candies:

We also read our favorite Santa Lucia stories today. It’s such a lovely holiday in the lead-up to Christmas, and one I look forward to all year long!

Lucia Morning in Belleville

I’m always excited when Santa Lucia Day comes around. I had everything ready to go last night:

The girls were very excited to dress up and serve breakfast this morning…Chickadee got to carry the lussekattes for the first time, and she did a great job!

Happy Santa Lucia Day!

Lucia Morning

Santa Lucia Day has become one of my favorite days of the year. The lussekattes are such a special treat that I literally only make once a year, and the unmistakable smell of cardamom and orange zest makes it very clear exactly what day it is! The girls’ enthusiasm for helping out always warms my heart, as does the fact that the boys are still willing to play the part of the Star Boys. And I look forward to reading our Santa Lucia stories every year, as well. It’s just another highlight of the Advent season in the Markel house!

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