Archives for December 2018

Does your little girl have a long, white nightgown in her pajama drawer? No? Neither did mine! I had to get a little creative on this one. Let’s look at how I put Emma’s Saint Lucia outfit together with thrifted and Dollar Tree items.

First, we made a crown with Dollar Tree supplies. *Disclaimer* This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through these links will earn me a small commission. I am careful to only promote products that I personally use and love!

Then, I happened to find this women’s nightgown at Goodwill. It would be shorter on a woman, but it was floor-length on Emma. Score!

This find reminded me, yet again, that I often don’t find what I’m looking for in the store section that I would expect. Most children’s clothing is very contemporary, with a few vintage finds tucked in. It is highly unlikely to find a long, plain, white nightgown with the kid stuff. However, I may find one that could be altered in the women’s section. It’s all about thinking a bit outside the box while I’m shopping!

This nightgown has a tie to shape the waist in the back. (The back hem got a bit dirty during our photo shoot. I need to soak this in OxiClean!) The nightgown has a very wide and low neck, so I had Emma wear one of Elliott’s white dress shirts, underneath, to fill it in. It’s often tricky to find girl’s blouses, so my default is to use boy’s dress shirts, which are relatively common in thrift stores. Elliott often has to wear “girl” items in his historical costume outfits, so it was about time for Emma to take one for the team!

For the sash, I used the last length of Offray, red, 1 1/2 inch-wide grosgrain ribbon that I happened to have on this spool.

I tied the red sash around Emma’s waist. The white robe stands for purity. The red sash stands for martyrdom.

Where would Saint Lucia be without her tray of breakfast? I found the perfect, child-size “silver” tray at the Dollar Tree.

Put it all together!

As a Protestant, I have not spent a lot of time thinking about saints. However, there are many things to learn from Saint Lucia. She was an early Christian who was martyred because she was caught while bringing food to fellow believers in hiding. Her story was revived, in medieval Sweden, when a woman brought food to a neighboring village during a famine. She wore a wreath of candles on her head and came over in a boat, lit with torchlight. Her bravery and kindness reminded people of the old tradition of Saint Lucia. This is how an Italian, Catholic saint came to be celebrated in Scandinavia; Sweden in particular.

Lucia’s enduring message of being a light in the darkness has led to her special day still being celebrated in Sweden, even though it is now a nominally Lutheran nation. For more, this is an excellent article in the Post-Gazette. It includes a more detailed history of the origins of Saint Lucia (*warning* it may be too gory for wee ones), and yet another recipe for Lussekatter. Lucia, Child of Light and Lucia Morning in Sweden are also excellent and interesting sources. The latter is the most entertaining for kids, due to its wonderful illustrations.

So, while I do not pray to, for, or through Saints, learning about Saint Lucia opened a conversation between Emma and Elliott and me about the cost of our beliefs. What, ultimately, is so important to us that we would risk everything? As a Christian, I believe that all fellow believers are saints (with a little “s”). We are called to serve and to love and to be lights pointing the world to Christ. This is what celebrating Saint Lucia represents to me.

So, I know Lucia Day has come and gone, but the spirit of Saint Lucia and the theme of light in darkness holds throughout Advent season, right? Plus, you may be like I was as a child and celebrate St. Lucia on Christmas morning. We did this because:

A. It was the only morning we wanted to get up early. (I mean, HELLO. Presents!)

B. It was one of the few mornings we could wake up before our parents, since my dad was an early commuter.

Regardless of when you celebrate, this tutorial will show you how to make a Saint Lucia crown. Even better? Nearly all the materials come from your local Dollar Tree!

First, I found these 15 inch wreaths! They are very basic, but I saw their potential as the foundation for a Lucia Crown.

Luckily, I had a model with me to check the fit of the wreath! It was a little large on Eliza, but I figured I would attach the candles inside the crown. This would reduce the internal circumference enough to fit a child’s head.

Speaking of candles, those were next on my list! I opted to use these 6-inch, battery-operated ones instead of real candles with flames. Fire + hair = no bueno. Ask my nine-year-old self after blowing out my birthday candles…Let’s just say, I was blessed that the worst that happened was that the tip of my braid was singed and very stinky. I could have gone up in flames!

Eliza is the perfect shopping companion, by the way! She is so methodical and eager to help.

Each candle required two, Triple-A batteries. Yes, the Dollar Tree also sells packs of batteries!

I also picked up this roll of Christmas ribbon to wind around the wreath.

I decided that the Lucia Crown needed some additional interest, color, and texture. So, we went back to the Dollar Tree on another day and bought some gold, artificial foliage.

Before you start making your Lucia crown, open each package of candles and test them with batteries. Occasionally, a package will have a defective candle. All of my candles passed this initial test, but one inexplicably failed after I finished making the crown. I was glad that I bought an extra package of candles to replace it. I recommend doing the same!

Here’s a collage of the basic supplies needed to make this wreath. I also used wire to wrap the around each candle and to secure them to the wreath. I already had this wire in my stash. Unfortunately, I am unable to tell you its grade or material, since its packaging was missing. However, I recommend getting something sturdy!

This next bit takes some patience and experimentation. I cut the wire into six lengths (one for each candle) and began by twisting the middle of the wire around each candle. Then, I wrapped the remaining tails of wire around the wreath, from above and below. I crossed it in an “X” shape and wrapped around the wreath again. I repeated this until I had no wire left.

If your wreath looks like this, at this point, Do. Not. Panic. (Okay, I panicked a bit!) It looks rather dreadful, doesn’t it? Maybe this is because I should have used stiffer wire. However, I remembered that I had bought this ribbon for a decorative effect and to secure the additional foliage I was going to add to the crown. Maybe it could also help to brace the candles upright?

Sure enough, it did! I tied the end of the ribbon around one of the candles. Then, I twisted it around each candle a couple times and wrapped it around the wreath 2-3 times between the candles. I used almost the entire spool, which contained three yards! The candles were much less floppy and much more upright. I figured that they would probably stand up even more when the crown was worn and the candles were trapped between the wreath and the wearer’s head.

Next was the most enjoyable part of this project! It was fun to snip apart the clumps of gold foliage with the pliers. I tucked the shortened stems into the ribbon wrapping, making sure to place the stems in the same direction around the wreath. I recommend adding a few drops of hot glue inside the ribbon wrapping to secure each bit of foliage. You can skip this step, but you may lose some foliage when the crown is worn.

Here is the finished Saint Lucia crown with the rest of the outfit I assembled for Emma! I will share how I put this whole look together in my next blog post. Emma said the Lucia crown was somewhat uncomfortable because the faux pine branches were scratchy. The candle ends also dug into the sides of her head, and the wreath was still loose and prone to slipping. SO, it looks like this crown will be a work in process. I am going to create a fabric “doughnut” of padding inside the wreath. This will hopefully solve all three of these issues.

A friend from church delivered a fresh, beautiful wreath to our door right before we were going to take pictures. What a perfect photo prop!

This is what the wreath looks like when it is lit at night! The battery candle in Emma’s hand was also purchased at the Dollar Tree.