Prairie Hills Covenant Church

Christmas Traditions There is so much that miss about my childhood Christmas traditions, that I didn’t even know I liked when I was a child. Growing up in the Swedish Capital of Nebraska, in the Swedish Covenant Church, with a 100% Swedish father, and 100% Swedish grandparents, much of my child hood traditions are rooted deep in Swedish traditions. Our church would put on a St. Lucia celebration on Dec. 13th (or close to it) with buns, coffee, sandwiches, glugg, and a pageant. We would have “Carols and Breakfast” the Sunday before Christmas, where the kids in the church would share their musical talents, and at each place setting you could find a Swedish hay ornament, and before we would leave we would be given an orange or an apple. One of my favorites was our 11 pm Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. We would spread the light from the Christ candle around the sanctuary while singing Silent Night. As we finished the song, we would hear the bell from the Lutheran church begin to ring, as we ushered in