If you should happen to be curious enough to ask Reverend Michael Alan what it is he does, be prepared to spend a good five or 10 minutes talking about it. He's an accomplished graphic designer who has helped brand some of the city's most impressive new products (think adult beverages Root and Snap), an artist who's a card-carrying member of the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators, and resident baker/culinary contributor at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (AITA) in Old City. And yes, he is an ordained man of the cloth, having legally presided over the marriage of two friends a few years back..

As of last week, gingerbread house-maker is also on his resume. Alan will be leading a gingerbread house-making workshop at AITA on Thursday, Dec. 9, and it promises to be anything but the ordinary holiday fare.

"I'm not a super-perfectionist. It's just fun to create things," he says. "It'll just be a relaxed evening, some chit-chat and we'll make some great gingerbread houses."

The house Alan made last week was clean and classic with little sugar windows and lights (not edible) and was made just in time for the Dec. 3 opening of AITA's History & Holiday exhibit, which examines the origins of winter traditions and runs through Jan. 31 at its flagship store (116 N. 3rd St.). Alan has several new pieces in this exhibit that are based on Belsnickel, the slightly evil-looking, fur-wearing, German-rooted forerunner to the modern Santa Claus. The works look like a "sketchbook from the early 18th century," complete with calligraphy, giving them a historical feel.

It was the holidays, ironically, that led Alan to AITA. A few years ago, Alan hand-drew all his Christmas cards and when friend and AITA founder Steven Grasse saw his, Alan was promptly enlisted to design the label for Root, AITA's wildly popular organic American liquer. An avid, self-taught cook and baker, Alan also works with Wild Flour Bakery on branding, baking and sales.

"I'm just interested in a lot of different things and I try to blend it altogether," he says.

Registration for the gingerbread house-making is capped at 20, so hurry. But Alan says overflow holiday enthusiasts should stop by anyway to watch, learn, and indulge in some of the many winter traditions at AITA.

"We've been so busy we're forgoing our normal Christmas party until New Year's," says Alan. "Hopefully things will calm down by then."