Preparing for the Feast Day of St. Lucia

I woke up this morning thinking about the feast day of Santa Lucia, which happens tomorrow.  Some years, I'm home or have an afternoon/evening schedule, and so I can bake bread, my favorite way to celebrate this feast day.  This year will not be one of those years.

I will likely bake the Santa Lucia bread on Saturday.  This morning, I was astonished to realize that I haven't baked bread at all in this house.

Once, I would have tended to bread as one of the first tasks in a new kitchen, a way to break it in, a way to feel at home.  But I haven't yet.  So, perhaps on Saturday.

I wrote a piece for the Living Lutheran site which is up today.  Go here to read more about Santa Lucia, both the history and the more recent ways of celebrating.  That post has a link to a post about the bread, in case you find yourself yearning to celebrate the feast day of Santa Lucia the way the Scandinavians do, with fresh-baked bread and coffee and maybe a wreath of candles for your hair or table.

The feast day of St. Lucia--it's a great festival in Advent, a way to remember that we need light and fresh bread and a new vision (St. Lucia is the patron saint of the blind and visually impaired.).