Christmas time is a magical time of year for many. There are people in the U.S. from varied cultures that bring rich traditions to their Christmas celebrations. A lot of these traditions revolve around food. One of my family’s favorite traditions when I was growing up, tied to my Swedish heritage, was to gather in the kitchen and make “claynes”, a deep-fried donut-type treat. We rolled out the dough and cut it in diamond shapes, then pulled one of the long ends of the diamond through a slit in the shape to make a twist in the dough. Then we fried them until golden brown. They were super yummy, eaten warm and served with a glass of milk. Some people like to sprinkle them with powdered sugar. I have continued that with my own family. In recent years, and to my surprise, I discovered through a student with Italian heritage that something very similar is made in Italy.
Another fun food tradition that has become part of my family’s tradition is gingerbread men. This began when I was a college student and I had lots of nieces and nephews. I began making big gingerbread men for them, ornately decorated with Christmas colored frosting. And I labeled each one with their name in frosting. It became a family favorite with my own children and we like to gather and make gingerbread men together sometime before Christmas day. We make large 8” gingerbread boys and girls, and tiny 1 ½” ones. The most common are about 3 to 4” gingerbread men. We get some pretty crazy looking gingerbread men. The kitchen is filled with laughter and the pungent smell of molasses and warm spices.
One of the best gingerbread displays in Utah has been a part of the Festival of Trees event, held during the first week of December somewhere in Salt Lake County. The Festival of Trees is organized to raise money for Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where children come from all over to receive care for serious health problems. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the event will be held virtually for the second year now. Hopefully this event will return to an in-person affair soon.
There is, however, the University Place Gingerbread House Competition that will take place at the University Place Mall, right here in Orem, from November 29 through December 4th of 2021. Judges will award prizes for the best gingerbread houses, but shoppers can also vote for their favorite entry for the People’s Choice award. The gingerbread house display is located in the west end of the mall. This is just up the street from the school, so take advantage of the chance to see some amazing artwork in the form of gingerbread! The following link will give you details:
https://www.universityplaceorem.com/events/gingerbread-house-competition-display/
Start your own gingerbread Christmas tradition by baking some gingerbread cookies yourself. Here are links to a couple of different recipes:
https://www.familytime.com/recipe/ShowRecipe.aspx?recipeid=10171
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015813-gingerbread-cookies
Bon appetit!