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I love Valentine’s Day. Not even for the romance and such but because I love the color combo of red and pink and IÂ love to decorate for Valentine’s Day. It helps me with the post-Christmas blues after I have had to tear down the winter wonderland. Admittedly I often put Valentine’s Day decor up in early January.
Saint Lucy’s Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day celebrated on 13 December in Advent, commemorating Saint Lucy, a 3rd-century martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution, who according to legend brought “food and aid to Christians hiding in the catacombs” using a candle-lit wreath to “light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible”. Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy’s Day is viewed as an event signaling the arrival of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ on Christmas Day.
Saint Lucy’s Day is celebrated most commonly in Scandinavia, with their long dark winters, where it is a major feast day. In Scandinavia, where Saint Lucy is called Santa Lucia in Norwegian and Sankta Lucia in Swedish, she is represented as a lady in a white dress and red sash with a crown or wreath of candles on her head. In Norway, Sweden and Swedish-speaking regions of Finland, girls dressed as Lucy carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung.
Because my ancestors were Norwegian we celebrate St. Lucia Day. The girls dress in white with red sashes at the waist and a crown of light on their head. They serve rolls and coffee to their parents symbolizing the generosity of giving to others.
This year even our Elves on the Shelf got into the tradition.
For a kids play date recently my girls wanted to create their own pizzas with their friends. I thought this was a great idea – takes the work out of afternoon snack for me!
I laid out the mini boboli pizza crusts, tomato sauce and pesto sauce, pepperoni, olives and cheese. They had a great time and this happy face pizza made me laugh.
