CHAPTER 12, PAGE 18

Gingerbread is a popular Christmas treat all over the world, in many different forms. Gingerbread first appeared in central Europe in the Middle Ages, made from sugars and spices that had been brought back from the Middle East by soldiers returning from the Crusades.

In England, gingerbread only meant "preserved ginger," referring to the preservative effect of ginger on breads, cakes, and other pastries. It wasn't until the 15th century that gingerbread referred specifically to the sweet cake made with treacle and ginger. And it wasn't until the nineteenth century that the treat became associated primarily with Christmas.

Early on gingerbread was made by monks, but by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries bakers began to specialize in the treat.

In France and England these bakers formed guilds, and were given the exclusive right to make gingerbread, except at Christmas and Easter.

The popularity of gingerbread cookies and houses spread to colonial America. Recipes varied from region to region, according to the national origin of the immigrants who had settled there. Most recipes had fewer spices than in European recipes, and often settlers included local ingredients. Maple syrup molasses was included in many recipes in northern areas of the country, while sorghum molasses was used in the South.

It is said that Queen Victoria, and her German-born husband Prince Albert, brought gingerbread cookies in vogue when they included it in with the other German Christmas traditions they adopted, like the Christmas tree and the Yule log, in the mid-nineteenth century.

It was at this time that gingerbread cookies became associated primarily with Christmas. Today gingerbread cookiesand houses are as popular as ever, and have become an entrenched Christmas tradition in America

GOOD MORNING

They say that today is supposed to be the busiest day of the year for mailing packages. I’ll be one of those in line, as my gifts to the ‘Sunshine’ babes need to be put in the mail today. Wish me luck! I should have done it last week, but the days flew by and I didn’t get it all together until the weekend. Back to work today, but it’ll be a short work week as I have off Friday.

DS#2 and his family will be here by Thursday for about a week and I’m glad I saved 2 days of vacation to make the Christmas weekend a nice long 5 day weekend. His children are ages 4 and 6 so that will make Christmas a little more special here at my house this year.

Most of the time I just have family in for one day for our Family feast. I’m really going to try and get the most out of this holiday because in the New Year they will be moving further away and may not be able to come home for quite awhile.

DS#2 and his wife are both career military people and they travel around a lot. Thankfully the children are older now and may remember who this grand’ma’ is .When they were younger and I spoke with them on the telephone, they’d be confused as to which grandmother they were speaking to.

I know that our 'Dino Boy' and 'Pretty Lady' have never seen snow , so maybe they’ll finally be able to see some. Of course we never know if it is going to be a ‘white’ or ‘green ‘ Christmas. We’ll see…

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Heap on the wood!-the wind is chill;

But let it whistle as it will,

We'll keep our Christmas merry still.

Sir Walter Scott

May your day be blessed with a few SMILES and lots of SUNSHINE to warm your heart !

Peace, dear friends,

Christmas love without end.

MA