Karolina picked me up from the airport and on my seat was the itinerary for the week! Ahhh it was my love language! “Vanilla Bean Beach Week” creatively named after the vanilla bean color of the apartment walls.
We loaded into the car and Karolina asked if I was up for an adventure?! Was that even a question... of course I am! She then explained that it was St. Lucia day which is a Swedish holiday (she is very Swedish) Dec 13th and we were going to celebrate by making some deliveries to her church friends. 11 stops to be exact. She had it mapped and timed perfectly on a schedule.
We pulled off on the side of the road before our first stop so we could get prepared. This included Karolina’s crown of candles and I got to be Lucia’s handmade with a sparkle crown. We looked so cute.
Our first stop was at her adopted family. The greeted her as such when they opened the door “hello adopted daughter.”. They welcomed us into their home where Karolina explained the tradition.
St. Lucia brings the light of the New Year. She was a Christian martyr who would visit the prisoners and wear candles in her hair to light the path. We celebrate and remember her as she brings the light into the Christmas season. The oldest daughter in Swedish families got to dress like Lucia, younger sisters were the hand maids and boys got to wear white robes, carry stars and have cone caps!
She presented them with the plate of Christmas cookies. Including some clementines, and cookies officially named Pepparkakor! And the trick with these is that you put it in the palm of your hand and press the middle and make a wish. If it breaks in 3 pieces your wish comes true and you eat it. If it doesn’t, you get to try again with another cookie. Everyone liked that rule. By the end of the night I got the honor of explaining this tradition!
Then Karolina taught us the traditional songs and we danced around the house with their daughter.
We continued on to the other houses. It was so fun to meet her friends this way. We were surprising them in their homes and many of them were in their pajamas. And it was a great way to break the ice with people and it felt like we were best friends after I left.
One of my favorites was her Pastor’s house. They have four little kids and they had just been studying Sweden in their home school curriculum. Their eyes lit up when they opened the door! And we shared the stories again and of course we danced around the house. It was kind of like a jumping conga line and everyone got a chance to lead and pretend play their instruments. The girls were just soaking it up as Karolina told them the story. And it was magical as we put the crowns on them and took a picture. I didn’t want to leave but I think we did our job of getting them excited and loaded up on sugar before heading out!
We ended the night and my body was tired but my heart was full. I think I’m going to like it here! Went home to meet the kittens!
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