Complex sentence: The tradition of making decorated gingerbread houses started in Germany in the early 1800s after the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, the hungry children who were abandoned in the forest, and found an edible house made of bread with sugar decorations.
Split into simpler sentences: The tradition of making decorated gingerbread houses started in Germany in the early 1800s. After the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, the hungry children who were abandoned in the forest, and found an edible house made of bread with sugar decorations.