Earth laughs in flowers.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Peace is not a season, it is a way of life.-Unknown
Bees are not as busy at we think they are. They just can't buzz any slower.--unknown
The sea is as near as we come to another world.-Anne Stevenson

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Pink Saturday #13 and St. Lucia Day

The first item is a Christmas bear I got from a special friend. Kathy doesn't have a blog, but she follows my blog. So Kathy, thank you for this cute bear you gave me for my birthday one year while we were still in OTA school together. I always think of you when I have this bear out. In case others are wondering what OTA means, it stands for Occupational Therapy Assistant which is what I do in my ministry of daily life. This bear has dark pink in the fabric and in the flowers so to me it is good for a Pink Saturday.

I took a couple of close ups of the cups I have lined up on my stove. The full picture of them is on a previous post. This cup has a manager scene on it and the there is pink in the clothing.


The same cup, but turned a little so you can see the rest of it. See the angel in her pink gown. Worshiping the Baby Jesus. I just love this cup.

The hat, scarf and the heart seem more pink to me than red here. I think this is an adorable cup too. So far I have been lucky at finding pink around my house. I keep thinking I am going to run out of pink to share. Thank you to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday for us. Click on her pink doll in my side bar to see more Pink Saturday posts.

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Now comes the St. Lucia Day portion of my post. Today is St. Lucia Day. It is a special day in Sweden. Here is a link that tells you more about St. Lucia Day.I am half Swedish on my father's side. One year we decided to have Christmas with the rest of the family on St. Lucia Day. Actually we did it on the 14th that year, but close enough. The year was 1997. Out of town relatives were in town that year. It was also the first year we drew names, because it was getting to be too much for everyone to get gifts for everyone else at the time. This celebration was done with the Finnish half of my family, not the Swedish half. It was fun. My daughter who was 13 at the time played the role of St. Lucia. The history of St. Lucia was read by my mother and music provided on the harpsichord by my aunt. My mother had the crown for the candles and yes we used real candles. And we borrowed an alb and red rope belt from our church. That is me watching her like a hawk, those candles on her head made me nervous.

My daughter proceeds down the stair with the tray of pastries. My aunt made Polish Kolachkes to be the pastries for our special day. Actually she makes those every year. My uncle is Polish, so that is why some Polish comes into play here. Ok, have you got that straight. This is the Finnish side of the family doing a Swedish custom with Polish pastries. Boy, we really mix up the countries here. My daughter passes around the pastries to everyone while my aunt is providing the music in the background on the harpischord. I know I mentioned that already. Anyway, their house was the perfect one to do this. That stairway comes down from the dining room area to the living room area. It is a very unusual house.

I decide those candles are getting to short and blow them out. You can see the kolachkes on the tray there. Yummy yum yum!
Happy Pink Saturday and Happy St Lucia Day!

22 comments:

Archer said...

Wow was it really that long ago? I look so young there and you can see my braces! I remember doing that. It was very neat and meaningful to connect with that part of my heritage, even if we only did it one year. I still remember it with good thoughts. Although that candle crown was kinda scary.

Dawn said...

The mugs are nice. I like the idea of displaying them on your stove :) I wonder if my mugs will fit on my stove?

What a fun celebration you had. It sounds like some wonderful memories were made that day. Yes, I would have been nervous about the candles too!!!

take care,
Dawn

Chloe Patricia said...

Linnea, thank you for sharing your pink mugs today. I have heard of Swedish tradition of St Lucia Day and its candle crown, but haven't met (or spoken to) the one actually did it. Happy Pink Saturday. Chloe Patricia

BECKY said...

Great celebration, Nea and the mugs are adorable!! I'm working on finishing up deco in my home, and hopefully will participate in Boomama's Christmas Home Tour!!
Have a really good day!! ;)
Becky

Anonymous said...

Good morning Linnea! What a fun pink Saturday post. I love your Swedish, Finnish, Polish, American celebration!! :0)
Now pass me one of those kolachkes and no one gets hurt!!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

I loved seeing the celebration! Also the pink mugs and the adorable bear holding those flowers. This was very interesting, Linnea! I feel as if I know more about that tradition now. Such a cute picture, too! They look like they're having such fun!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Anonymous said...

THOSE CANDLES WERE A LITTLE SPOOKY,HUH?FUN PINKS TOO...ANN

SmilingSally said...

I like that nativity scene mug! Happy St. Lucia Day. Happy Pink Saturday!

nikkicrumpet said...

Swedish, Polish, Finnish...a fun mix and a fun tradition...but I would have been freaking about those candles too!

Lindsay-ann said...

I enjoyed hearing about your St Lucia day and how you celebrate. Your Christmas cups are gorgeous and your bear is adorable.
Hope you are having a good weekend.
Lindsay

Sweetie said...

Linnea, The Christmas cups are lovely. Thank you for refreshing my memories of St. Lucia Day. What a wonderful post.
Sweetie

Betty said...

Happy Pink Saturday and St. Lucia Day! I love the tradition with the candle wreath.

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

I'm a first time visitor to your blog. I love all of your pretty mugs and the pictures of the St. Lucia celebration. I noticed you had commented on Kady's post (Life on Bonnie Lane). Her son has posted an update asking for b'day wishes for his mother, and since nobody had left a message yet, I was just trying to contact some of her readers. laurie

Anonymous said...

Happy Pink Saturday, Linnea.

I love your bear, and she looks so pretty in pink.

Your St. Lucia memories and photos are so wonderful. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Linda - Behind My Red Door said...

Hi Linnea,

I saw on the news that Londonderry was hit hard too - in fact most of NH was withouth power yesterday. I heard some places there won't get it unil the end of the week. I'll keep your freind in my prayers.

I forgot about Lucia Day in all this mess! Thanks for reminding me!!

hugs, Linda

Anonymous said...

What a sweet bear your friend gifted you with!

Michelle said...

What a neat traditions. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I like your mugs. That is a great idea to show them off. I should try that.

Linda - Behind My Red Door said...

http://news.aol.com/article/more-outages-possible-in-frigid/275835

I just saw this and there was a picture of Londonderry!!

Unknown said...

Love that pink-dressed bear. Thanks for sharing the St. Lucia festival with us!

Heidi Jo the Artist said...

Happy Pink Saturday! Cute bear, great idea to put the mugs on the back of the stove, neat story about St. Lucia Day too!

Heidi Jo the Artist
My Etsy Shop!
My Creative Blog!

Anonymous said...

I'm half Swedish, too ... mom and dad were both half Swedish as well, and both their moms were 100% first-generation Swedish Americans. Lots of Swedish spoken in my childhood homes, but I've forgotten all of it over the years, except for the easy stuff like God Yul and lutefisk :o)

Where did you go on your weekend trip, Santa Rosa? We spent a weekend in Bodega Bay in August, visiting some of my childhood haunts (Guerneville, Occidental, Jenner), but we didn't have time for Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and Sebastapol. Hope to come up again soon.

Happy Holidays!

Unknown said...

I used to have one of those American Girl books about a girl that came to America from Sweden- Kristen was the name of the American Girl. In the series, the winter book was about how she dressed as St. Lucia- Sara looks just like her!!!!

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