Friday

Entire house made from Chocolate

Good morning everyone.  Hope that you are all well today ... I will get the results of my MRI in just a few minutes and then go from there to see what needs to be done to help me with all of this pain ... so for me it is a very good morning to get some answers.

Chef David, Chef Daniel, myself and Chef David's class

Yesterday was a very nice day.  We had to deliver the ginger bread houses to the OHCC so they could go on display and be auctioned off.  We left the building (school) with 4 and they were all very nice and we were so proud of our work and then when we were bringing them into the club for display the barn crashed.  It was so sad ... we all worked so very hard on all of them that we were just devastated.  We were going to try and put it together (we came prepared for anything) but the lady in charge said that she would prefer that we didn't put it together because she said if someone bid on it and it broke up again on their way home that that person would be mad.  After we thought about it we agreed and took it back to school when we were done for a barn burning.

We also got a tour of the entire club and it is really something.  I took some pictures that I will post for you to see.

Some of the ginger bread houses were really really great!  I mean we put hours into ours that we made and I though that they were pretty cool but some of the ones that we saw before we left were well WOW is the only way to describe them. 

Denise, Esther, Angie and Tammy's lighthouse

I also added the Christmas tradition for the United States of America, there are some things that I learned today reading about Christmas in the USA. 

Well, for me it is time to get started with my day so I will be saying good bye for now.  Please stay safe in this snowy weather.  Good day for now from 1Happy Chef.  :)

Take care everyone and have a really great day!

                                                   

Christmas in United States of America
Santa Claus was born in US in the 1860's he was named this as he had a white beard and a belly, so he was named Santa Claus as this was the Dutch word for St Nicholas, Sintaklaas. Although the Dutch had bought him with them in the 17th century, he did not become an important person at Christmas until the Novelist Washington Irving put him in a novel that he wrote in 1809. This first Santa Claus was still known as St. Nicholas, he did smoke a pipe, and fly around in a wagon without any reindeer, but he did not have his red suit or live at the North Pole, he did however bring presents to children every year.

In 1863 He was given the name Santa Claus and bore the red suit, pipe, and his reindeer and sleigh.
Now Christmas celebrations vary greatly between regions of the United States, because of the variety of nationalities which have settled in it.

Early European settlers brought many traditions to the United States. Many settled in the early days in the South, these settlers would send Christmas greetings to their distant neighbors by shooting firearms and letting off fireworks. In Hawaii this practice is still in use as under the sunny skies, Santa Claus arrives by boat and Christmas dinner is eaten outdoors.

In America the traditional Christmas dinner is roast turkey with vegetables and sauces. For dessert it is rich, fruity Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. Mince pies, pastry cases filled with a mixture of chopped dried fruit.

The majority of Americans celebrate Christmas with the exchange of gifts and greetings and with family visits. For many, the day begins on Christmas Eve with the Midnight Mass. At Christmas it snows in many states, so dinner is usually eaten indoors.

American homes are decorated with holly, mistletoe and branches of trees, most have a Christmas tree hung with electric lights, tinsel, baubles, and strings of popcorn and candy canes. 

There are two homes for Santa Claus in the United States one is in Torrington, Connecticut, where Santa and his helpers give out presents. The other home is in Wilmington, New York, where a village for Santa and his reindeer is located.