A Crown and Braided Bread for St. Lucia Day

For a digital download of this cute Lucia crown, go here

Tomorrow is St. Lucia day, so I wanted to share a link for a paper Lucia candle crown you can download and make (go here) and some pictures my daughter sent of their Lucia bread baking day...

Celebrate by reading a book! Go here to my past post for Saint Lucia book recommendations.

Baking Gingerbread Cookies for St. Nicholas Day

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!  Did you know that St. Nicholas is the patron saint of - among other things, like sailors - bakers?  In many countries on this day it is traditional to give some kind of spiced gingerbread cookies to children, along with chocolate coins!

I recently bought a cute terra cotta cookie mold at Cost Plus World Market that I wanted to try out.  So Wednesday night I spent a quiet evening baking a new recipe I found for Soft Glazed Gingerbread Cookies to give away to godchildren and friends.  They turned out pretty well, and were a good precursor to the book I want to tell you about today!

The Baker's Dozen, by Aaron Shepard with illustrations by Wendy Edelson.

Van Amsterdam the baker was well known for his honesty as well as for his fine Saint Nicholas cookies. He always gave his customers exactly what they paid for -- not more and not less. So, he was not about to give in when a mysterious old woman comes to him on Saint Nicholas Day and insists that a dozen is thirteen! The woman's curse puts an end to the baker's business, and he believes it would take Saint Nicholas to help him. But if he receives that help, will it be exactly what he imagined? This is a great way to teach young children about the the joy of giving, and about the life of St. Nicholas.

Read more about The Baker's Dozen and activities for Saint Nicholas Day on the St. Nicholas Center website, here.