There is a persistent rumor that a poinsettia is poisonous, but a 50 pound child would have to eat over 500 leaves to see any harm and there’s no way they’d get more than one down since they taste horrible. The plant has a sap that can induce allergic reactions to those who are sensitive to latex. Just the same, you’ll want to keep the pets away from it because the leaves can induce vomiting. That’s not very festive at all.

Poinsettias in their native environment are a perennial shrub that can grow 10 to 15 feet high. The vast majority of poinsettias grown for sale in the United States now come from a ranch in California rather than directly from Mexico. The Paul Ecke Ranch accounts for 70% of domestic sales and 50% of the worldwide market of these beautiful plants.

The Spanish sat on their discovery for almost a century before exporting it throughout Europe. During that time, they got the idea to start adding sugar, vanilla and other flavors to improve the taste.

The Aztecs valued cocoa beans more than gold and jewels and who can blame them? You can’t eat jewelry. Incidentally, it takes 4 cacao seeds to make an ounce of milk chocolate or 12 seeds to make an ounce of dark chocolate. A cacao seed pod is about the size of a pineapple and holds enough seeds to make seven chocolate bars or two dark chocolate bars. Cocoa now comes primarily from West Africa, where they process every step by hand to ensure quality. If you wonder why fine chocolates are so expensive, it’s the limited supply and the labor intensive processing. Cacao trees can blossom all year round, but the flowers die if they are not pollinated within 24 hours of blooming. There’s a lot that goes into your candy bar or mug of hot chocolate!

Chocolate first came to the United States in 1765 with Irish chocolatier John Hanan. He partnered with Dr. James Baker to refine the beans imported from the West Indies. The business they founded is now the Baker’s Chocolate brand you still see today. I am rather glad they did. I can’t imagine facing the long winter months ahead without a hot, creamy mug of cocoa to look forward to. How about you?

Since 1991, the city of Bergen in Norway has created a gingerbread city they call Pepperkakebyen. Any child under 12 can build and contribute a gingerbread house to the display. This has spurred cities throughout the US to make their own. The Gingertown projects are constructed by architects in Washington DC, Nashville, Dallas and Atlanta. The finished products are displayed at hospitals and community support service locations throughout their communities. Charitable donations are collected and distributed through the Gingertown collaborations.

The Guinness World Record for largest gingerbread house was most recently broken in 2013. A team from Bryan, Texas, made a 2520 square foot house with edible walls. Jon Lovitch, the executive sous chef of the New York Marriott Marquis hotel just broke the Guinness World Record for largest gingerbread village last month! Just for a giggle, I’m going to mention that in 2011 the Guinness World Record for fastest marathon dressed as a gingerbread man was broken by David Smith of the UK with a marathon time of 3 hours, 42 minutes and 20 seconds.