7 days till Christmas

7 days till Christmas
December 18th
Movie of the day: The Family Man
I have never really been a fan of Nick Cage, but this is one of the exceptions. This is a bit of a sad story that glimpses the life a man could have had if he had married his love instead of going off in pursuit of fortune.

Christmas Carol of the day:
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
http://www.christmas-carol-music.org/Lead_Sheets/OComeOCome.html

This has always been my favorite rendition.

Christmas Trivia
(brought to you by howstuffworks.com)
What is Gingerbread?
Whether baked into delicious spiced cakes or crunchy, flat cookies, or used to build a "house," gingerbread has been a European delicacy for centuries. As the dessert spread throughout Western Europe, ginger-bread became a part of local traditions. In England, unmarried women would eat gingerbread "husbands" for luck in meeting the real thing.
On festival days, images of saints would be stamped in gingerbread and sometimes iced. Today, gingerbread is often associated with Germany and its holiday traditions. Gingerbread hearts are commonly found at fall fairs, decorated with colored icing and tied with ribbons.
In December in Nuremburg, the "gingerbread capital of the world," the Christkindlmarkt features the famous lebkuchen, which is considered to be the best gingerbread in the world.
http://christmas.howstuffworks.com/games/christmas-trivia8.htm

I have always been a fan of gingerbread as an art form. It is not really a holiday snack item, even though it is made of food. I found an intriguing recipe in Martha Stewart's Holiday Sweets magazine this year that suggested putting a gingerbread spice cake in the center of the gingerbread house. That way the gingerbread says moist. yum!
I have made gingerbread houses several times, but only once did I actually use gingerbread as the base. My family usually did the cheater method of gluing the cookie part to cardboard or just frosting and decorating cardboard. One of my good friends invited me over a few years ago to decorate 'real' gingerbread houses. We had a blast!


This is one I did in kindergarten (we decorated our milk cartons that year in school).


By PetitPlat by sk_, on Flickr


By by EmilyGracey, on Flickr
Check these out!!!
One of my favorite things to do this time of year is watch the Gingerbread House Championship on the Food Network. It really keeps you on your toes!