You Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man

Yesterday I surprised the family with wassail and gingerbread men when they came home from work and school.  The house smelled amazing! (At least to those with clear noses, which was 5 out of 6 of us.) 

While researching a recipe for wassail, I ran across an article on Twelfth Night on Wikipedia.  (The internet is great-- some days I really feel like searches on the internet go like those commercials for Bing-- who knows what you'll find!)  According to Wikipedia, wassail (and gingerbread) was traditionally served on Twelfth Night, which is "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking."  (Is the 12 Days of Christmas being after Christmas news to anyone else?)  So, I thought we'd learn a little about our English heritage and eat gingerbread and wassail.

 

I think the kids really liked this tradition.

(And I think we did catch that Gingerbread Man...)