Discover Christmas Day 15:

I can't think of anything better to do on a stormy day than bake. So i tweeked the order of our Discover Christmas and we baked all day. Yumminess and creativity were out and about in my house today. 

 What treats have traditionally been associated with Christmas?

A long time ago the celebration of Christmas Eve was a holy time of fasting and prayer. So on Christmas Day they would have a huge feast. For breakfast they would have oatmeal with fruits and nuts in it. Then their dinners would have bread pudding and fruit cake somewhere in them. Don't forget plum cake it was a favorite too.
Probably the most favorite treat of all though was Gingerbread cookies. They are fun to make and eat and every one would get involved in making these irresistable treats.
When the crusaders returned from the Middle East in the eleventh century they brought back all kinds of exotic spices and foods that had never been seen in Europe before. Ginger was one of the spices and it quickly became very sought after. Monks began using ginger in recipes for special religious occasions-baking cakes with intricate designs with pictures of saints and other religious symbols in them.
Here are some fun facts I bet you didn't know:
Ginger was used to disguise the bad taste of stale bread and Gingerbread was born.
It became so popular in Medieval times that there were "gingerbread fairs" with treats and activities.
Nuremberg Germany became the "gingerbread capital" of the world because bakers, artists and even sculptors would come together there to create the most beautiful gingerbread cakes in Europe!

We decided to try our hand at gingerbread cakes. I don't think ours would win any awards but we sure had fun coming up with this cute idea. The creativity all goes to Tristan. He came up with the idea of a gingerbread Nativity. He directed all the decorating. Chase was the cook he took care of most of the making of the dough and the cutting. Spencer was the (un) official taster and mess maker. I was just the photographer and repair man when one of the Wiseman's head fell off. We have found a new favorite treat at Christmas time too! Just ask Spencer, "it was delicious hahahahaha"