How the Pretzel Saved Christmas

This year, our church will be putting on a live outdoor nativity, and adding an indoor element of storytelling from around the world. I am in charge of putting these stories together. If you have a copy of Vacation Education destination Epcot, then this story will coincide with the activities in Germany, specifically the Pretzel Recipe on page 54. If you do not already have a copy of this book filled with cultural unit studies, Please visit Vacationeducationbooks.net to learn more.

Here is one of the stories that we will be using, and how I have set it up.
We will decorate around the kitchen window as though it is outside the monastery. Brother Bachman (a monk) is hard at work kneading bread. He will speak to the guests as they approach the window.

“I remember the first day that I imagined these little treats. It was the winter of 610 AD, and I was standing at this very window, watching the children play outside in the snow. I was sad because the children came to the church yard to play, but they hardly ever came inside to worship… and their parents hardly ever came at all.”
“I was baking loaves of bread that day, and working with the leftover dough, I began to roll it out as I prayed for these little children and their families. Soon, I was thinking of their tiny hands folded in prayer, and I folded the dough like this.”

Host will roll out dough into a snake shape, then fold over once to represent hands.

“Then, I thought of their mothers and fathers praying along side them and folded the dough like this.”

The ends of the dough get folded over again.

“Then, I thought of their parents teaching about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and soon the dough was shaped like this.”

The tips of the dough are place at the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock points on the center part of the dough creating three spaces that represent the HOLY TRINITY.

“I made several of these that day, enough for all the children. When they were warm and fresh from the oven, I called out the window and invited the children to come and try them.”

“Here would you like some?” Host will offer pretzels to guests.

“The children enjoyed them so much, that I had an idea. I called my creation ‘pretiola’ which means ‘little reward’ and I told the children to go home and learn a Bible verse. If they could come back with their parents and tell me the Bible verse they had memorized, that I would make more pretiolas for them.”

“They were so popular that soon everyone in town was coming to get them, and by Christmas, the church was filled with families once again.”

And, that is the story of how the pretzel (comes from the Latin root pretiola) saved Christmas. Hope you enjoyed it. You can share it with your family, and be sure to try the pretzel recipe on page 54 of Vacation Education destination Epcot.

Corinne Johnson is the author of Vacation Education Books, Christian unit studies based on favorite family vacation destinations.