The Nocturnal Visits Begin

Thursday evening, while eating supper, Maya mentioned to Mandy that there was something wrong with her mouth. Mandy started to question her to see what she meant and via that process, we learned the big news of that day -Maya had a loose tooth!

Yep! Already -at just a little over age five, she had a tooth on the bottom, in the front, that was "wigglely" -as Maya put it.

Just doesn't seem possible that she is already into this next phase of childhood -loosing those baby teeth.

We really didn't think that much about this loose tooth thing -other than to worrying about how we would deal with Maya when it came down to actually "pulling" it, ya know. But even that aspect turned out to be no big deal and also, another surprise for us later that evening.

I was sitting here, doing my embroidery thing (as I have been steadily doing for the past several months now) and Maya was standing by the playpen, not really seeming to be doing anything, other than standing there. All of a sudden she says "Look, Gram" and held her hand out to me. I had her come closer to see what she was trying to show me and to my surprise, she had the tooth in her hand!

She had apparently been doing the normal thing -playing with the tooth, wiggling it back and forth and it just popped out then. I don't know who was more surprised -Mandy, me or Maya. She didn't fuss at all. There was no bleeding either, which we had worried might cause her to "wig out" on us.

Nope, she was very nonchalant about the whole deal.

Mandy got an envelope and told her she had to put the tooth in the envelope and then put it under her pillow when she went to bed that night and in the morning, she'd have to look and see if the tooth fairy had come to visit her and how much money that good, generous fairy might have left behind.

She went to bed that night, got up yesterday morning and apparently had forgotten all about the tooth and the tooth fairy's coming to gather it up.

This morning, we remembered to ask her about this and she went upstairs, checked under the pillow and there, in place of the envelope with the tooth in it, was a nice crisp $1.00 bill! She was really excited about the money although she obviously has no idea of how much one can purchase with a dollar. When asked what she planned to spend the money for, her response was "A chocolate shake at Lowe's." Apparently she shops at a different Lowe's store than the rest of us cause I've never seen chocolate shakes available there.

Plans for today -and tomorrow too -are really going to have me a bit busy. Tomorrow evening is the "Festival of Light" Pageant and pot luck dinner at our church. The program is the crowning of St. Lucia this year for our parish.

This is a tradition from Sweden and as I think I've mentioned many times before, the founders of our church here were Swedish immigrants back in the mid-to-late 1880's. My great-grandfather on my Mom's father's side of my family was one of those founders of the original church that was begun in what is now the ghost town of Peale -the little place about 2 miles down the road from my home.

St. Lucia -the patron saint of Sweden -is celebrated today -December 13th -in Sweden and in our church, we observe honoring her on the Sunday in December that falls closest to December 13th -which this year, will be tomorrow, December 14th.

The original St. Lucia was actually from Italy but missionaries to Sweden several centuries ago, told the story to the Swedish people about this woman and her work with people, bringing food to early Christians who were hiding in the catacombs and in order to see where to go in those dark places, she wore a crown of candles on her head to light the way. Now, Sweden -being a land near to the North Pole and where the winters are very, very dark (and also cold) -had a pagan celebration about this time of the year as it is when the days begin to get a little longer --shedding a little bit more light, you see. So that, combined with admiring how St. Lucia was such a generous person to bring food to those early Christians and that she did it with this wreath-crown of candles, bringing with her light, the Swedish people then began the tradition of paying homage to St. Lucia on December 13th.

The tradition is that early in the morning of December 13th, the oldest daughter in the household rises, bakes some sweet breads -called Lucia buns or Lucia cats -makes coffee and then, wearing a white dress or long robe and a crown with several lit candles on her head, awakens her family to serve them hot coffee and these sweet St. Lucia buns.

In our church, we gather on the Sunday chosen to celebrate St. Lucia, for a great pot luck dinner, followed by the teens as well as many of the smaller children too, reading the story of St. Lucia. Then, the oldest teenage girl in the church leads a procession into the social room while wearing a white robe and with this crown of lit candles on her head. She then serves the St. Lucia buns to everyone present. It really is a beautiful program and one that holds a lot of meaning to the parish -especially to those of us with roots going back to Sweden.

This year, my best friend Kate will see her granddaughter, Katie, as St. Lucia and another girl, who is slightly younger than Katie, will also serve as St. Lucia. Both girls this year are named Kathryn -but friend Kate's granddaughter goes by Katie, whereas the other girl goes by Kathryn. Anyway, Katie will wear the white robe and candle wreath/crown and Kathryn will wear a traditional Swedish dress that had originally belonged to a cousin of my Mom's -who my kids always called "Aunt Helen."

This is one celebration in our church that I look forward to very much each year. Both my daughters served as St. Lucia when they were in high school and though at the time, they weren't all that happy and excited about this "honor" today, they both recognize it for the story behind St. Lucia, for the tradition of observing St. Lucia Day and the meaning that is actually behind the story -bringing the light of Christ to the world.

So today, I'm gonna be cooking a big casserole of ham and bean pot pie -a dish very similar to ham and bean soup except that you make homemade dumpling-like noodles and put them in the broth to cook up the juices from the ham and beans. My kids love this and it has always gone over very well with those who attend this dinner too. In addition, this year I am planning to also bake an egg custard dish that is a traditional Swedish item -called "Panakaka." There is another lady in our church who almost always brings this dish to our pot luck dinners but she has been having a lot of health problems this year -mainly with arthritis in her spine -so she isn't always up to the task of making the baked custard. And, I thought since I love panakaka as do my kids, (and many others at our church too) I will make a pan of it to take to the dinner tomorrow.

Then, tomorrow I will also have to make a pan of baked beans and bake a cake to take to church Monday morning for use at a funeral dinner which will be held Monday morning. One of the elderly members of our parish passed away yesterday morning -he was 91 years old and had been in failing health for some time now.

Trust me when I tell you this though, after that pot luck dinner tomorrow night -with all the great foods that will grace the table there -one thing I will need to counteract against all the goodies there as well as the cookies, candies and extra foods that will be a big part of the upcoming holiday, I'm really going to need to find the best diet pills if I want to be able to get into the clothes I currently have!

I wanted to post a photo of Maya showing that gap in her mouth today with this post but unfortunately, getting her to stand still, open her mouth and look at the camera is proving to be a rather difficult task today. Guess I'm just going to have to bide my time -do a sneak attack so to speak -with the camera in order to get the shot I want to show you.

Happy St. Lucia Day to all! Celebrate the coming of The Light!

Festival of Light

Last night was a big event in the life of our church here as we celebrated the life of a young woman who lived in Italy in the 4th century and eventually, when Scandinavia was converted to Christianity, was adopted by Sweden as a patron saint.

St. Lucia, the story goes, was an early Christian who brought food to people hiding in the catacombs apparently by wearing a crown of candles on her head for a means to lighting her way through the catacombs. Centuries later, the story of St. Lucia was used to help convert pagans to Christianity in Scandinavia and the people, because either the date of her birth or the date of her death (can't remember now which it was) fell on December 13th, which was according to old calendars, the longest day of the year, equated St. Lucia with her crown of candles and bringing light as comparable to December 13th being the day after which all days got longer - more light - and so that is a very compact version of the story of St. Lucia. On December 13th though, the oldest girl in a Swedish home is supposed to rise in the middle of the night to prepare breakfast for the family and serve them in their beds. To light her way - and to symbolize the beginning of the days having more light each day after December 13th - she wears a crown of candles which are then lit to light the way as she serves Lucia rolls and coffee to her family.

And because our particular parish was founded in the late 1880's by Swedish immigrants to this area, it has become our church's tradition to honor our heritage -and St. Lucia - on the Sunday closest to December 13th with a special program of the "Festival of Light" and St. Lucia Day.

Here are some pictures of St. Lucia programs from the past. The top photo on the left are two sisters, Krista and Karen Eyerly, daughters of my neighbors 2 doors down the street (their mother is my best friend from the time we were about 2 years old). The top photo on the right
is Debra Young Moriarity with Pastor Ed Devore at our first St. Lucia Day observance back in December of 1981. (Deb is now my next door neighbor). The middle photo on the left is Denise Young Araway, younger sister of our "first" St. Lucia. Then on the right in the middle is my older daughter, Carrie, as St. Lucia in either 1982 or 1983. The bottom picture is of Ellen Pillot - cousin to the Eyerly sisters in the top left photo. I don't have any photos of Mandy from the year (1994) when she served as St. Lucia. She was supposed to serve in 1993 but that year, due to a really bad snow storm that knocked the power out all over the region for about 2 days, the festival and dinner that year had to be canceled so the next year, because Mandy had missed serving as St. Lucia the year before due to the cancellation, she got her turn. One thing all the girls who have served as St. Lucia have said about doing this - beside feeling it was a great honor to get to wear the crown of candles - is what a hassle it was too trying to get all the wax combed out of their hair then the next day! It really is a beautiful program, with the story of St. Lucia being re-read every year, a great pot-luck dinner always - as is the norm at our church anytime there is to be a church dinner - can't beat the food, for sure! Plus at this program, we always have a chance to sing Christmas Carols - anyone can request that we sing a favorite carol while we wait for the procession to begin and at the close of the service, we always have a rendition of the Swedish favorite Christmas song (for our church, anyway, it is a favorite) - "Lyssna, Lyssna" - (Listen, Listen, hear the angels song) and anyone who has ever been a member of any of the church choirs -if they are brave enough - can get up and we sing this carol then for the rest of the people gathered together there. It's one of my favorite times of the year because I no longer sing in the choir so don't get to participate anymore in the singing of this special song except at the end of the St. Lucia program and that song is one I really love - remember the harmony on it as well - so I very much enjoy that part of the program.

Here are two more recent photos of the St. Lucia Pageant at our church. In the top photo, the young lady on the far left is Anna Pillot, niece of Ellen Pillot who is in the bottom photo of the upper pic I posted. To her right, I don't recall that young woman's name but I believe she was an exchange student here that year. Center is Rebecca Baumgardner, and to the right of Becky is Alena Bumbarger, Valerie Amick and Leah Lawrence. Anna is the only one of the girls in the photo who has never served as St. Lucia - probably because she and her parents and younger brother live over in State College while her grandparents -my neighbors about 7 houses UP the street from me (Andrew "Bo" and Shirley Nelson Pillot) live here and still belong to our church. Alena was St. Lucia in 2005, Valerie in 2004 and Leah in 2006.
In the bottom photo here, there is Marge Baumgardner (grandmother of Becky, the St. Lucia in the photo above this) helping the kids to get ready for the procession. In front of her is Kylie Moriarity (my next-door neighbor's younger daughter and sister of Alena Bumbarger -both the daughters of the very first St. Lucia -Debra Young Moriarity). The "star boy" in the photo is Matt Adams and the two girls to the right are my stepgranddaughter, Katie Wagner and then Katie Hulett, daughter of Karen Eyerly Hulett, who was St. Lucia in the very top left photo in this post and she is the granddaughter of my good friend (and neighbor, still) Kate Nelson Eyerly.

Aren't we all just pretty much one big happy family though?

And maybe, if all goes well - and I'm still around and kicking (and blogging) in about 12-13 years, perhaps my little Princess Maya will also be serving as St. Lucia! It would be especially fitting since Maya is named for her great-great-great-grandmother - Maja Lisa Till Eld - who came to this country in 1881, with her five young children in tow, to reunite with my great-grandfather (Carl Eld-Andersson) who had immigrated here in 1880. Hopefully, I'll make it that many years to be able to see that happen. Maybe by then I can teach Maya the words to my favorite Swedish Christmas carol, "Lyssna, Lyssna" by then too.