November 29, 2024

Christmas in Germany + Gingerbread AND Christmas Trees

Frohe Weihnachten! Learn more about Christmas in Germany here!

So many wonderful traditions, those Germans have! We learned that Advent is a big part of their Christmas. And that Christmas markets are where you can buy all kinds of things and gifts for loved ones, as well as food – like lebkuchen, a spicy cookie that is similar to gingerbread.

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GINGERBREAD

Speaking of gingerbread … while it is widely baked throughout Europe, the Germans are known for flat, shaped gingerbread – like gingerbread people!

And thanks to the German Grimm brothers, who collected the fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, gingerbread houses became a “thing” among bakers (if you recall, the siblings end up in the hands of a witch who lives in an edible house decorated with confectionaries).

When German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, they brought along this Christmas tradition … and now Americans (specifically Texans) can boast of having constructed the largest gingerbread house in the world (go Google it)! 😆

BOOK & BAKE ACTIVITY:

We read Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby and followed it up, naturally, with some gingerbread baking (make life easy and just use a premade mix like we did).

Ever since I started our home education journey, I’ve made it a point to incorporate food and hands-on activities in our learning, just because that’s how our crew loves to learn. Yes, it takes extra time, but mannn … it just makes this homeschool gig more fun! My kids are very tactile, right brain learners so it also helps them retain information better. We actually do very little reviews/tests; instead that time and energy go towards things like crafting and baking!

CHRISTMAS TREES

CHRISTMAS TREE LEGENDS & DISCUSSION ACTIVITY:

Another thing we can thank the Germans for? The custom of bringing ginormous woodland plants (and also dressing them up) into our homes during the winter!!!

One legend has to do with a German woodcutter who helped a poor young kiddo – who happened to be the Christ Child. The Christ Child broke off a branch from a fir tree as a gift … and from then on people have remembered that night by bringing an evergreen tree in their home!

Another legend has to do with St. Boniface, missionary to Germans, who supposedly happened upon some pagans performing a sacrifice in the forest. He ended up using an evergreen tree to share about God’s everlasting love (the green color of the leaves in the dead of winter) and about the trinity (the triangular-ish shape of the tree).

And still another legend has to do with Martin Luther, German monk and father of the Reformation, who wanted to bring one home to his family after being enamored by the beauty of the stars shining through the evergreen branches of the trees in forest. He decorated the tree with candles to represent the stars.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: Which one of these seems the most plausible? 🤔

Fun Fact: Christmas trees in the United States didn’t become popular until an image of the royal family (Queen Victoria and her German husband, Prince Albert, with their kids) around a Christmas trees, was published American newspapers!

BOOKS WE ENJOYED:

Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree is a sweet little rhyming book for littles that teaches them the connection between Christmas Trees and Jesus.

The Legend of the Christmas Tree is a great book about Christmas trees became a symbol of Christmas and as a way to tell people about God.

Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect is probably one of my favorite Christmas stories, about how love, goodness, and charity is more important than outward appearances. It’s definitely a classic you definitely want to read year after year.

Christmas Farm is a great homeschool-during-the-holidays book because you can talk about agricultural science and the process it takes to grow a Christmas tree, entrepreneurship/marketing, as well as cover several math concepts like multiplication and subtraction using the figures mentioned in the book.

ACTIVITY IDEAS:

1) Trace your child’s hand a bunch if times on green construction paper, cut them out, and then arrange and glue them to another large sheet of paper in the shape of a Christmas tree.