St. Lucia Day

In the pre-dawn stillness of my bedroom this morning.

"I was planning on serving the chocolate chip English muffins but somebody ate them all."

"I'd meant to stop at a kitchen speciality store, to get some saffron so you could make proper St. Lucia lussekatter bread. But I have to admit, gingerbread cookies make a nice substitute."

"What's saffron?"

"Hey, don't jiggle the bed. You'll spill the cocoa."

"Ooops."

"There'd better not be any cocoa on my bed."

"It's all right. It just landed on the bathrobe. You can wash it out."

"I just washed that bathrobe two days ago."

"Hey, don't fall back asleep, Daddy."

"Just think, people all over the world are doing this."

"Mostly in Scandinavia."

"Well, quite a few in Minnesota. We have a lot of Swedish people here."

I looked around at the little circle of light cast by the (battery-operated) candles of the St. Lucia crown, which Fiona had removed and placed over the cookies plate. Fiona lay curled on her side, in her white chemise with the red sash. Delia lay next to me, snuggled in her bathrobe. Rob was propped up on one elbow, cradling his cup of cocoa, with his eyes at half-mast. The mock candlelight sculpted their features gently, casting a beautiful glow over all their sleepy faces.

A little silence.

"This is what family is all about," I said softly.

Edited to add: (See our pictures from last year, with a link to mrissa's lussekatter bread recipe)

This Year

Kij, this one's for you and me.