Gingerbread House
My sisters and I started a tradition of making gingerbread houses when I was in college. I think we made them every year for 4 or 5 years, and then we all got married and had kids and the whole thing became a lot harder to pull off. But they were works of art! Well, maybe just works of love. But either way, a tremendous amount of fun and a great project to work on over the Christmas break. I specifically remember being up late putting the finishing touches on a carport. And then there was the year that we tried for glass windows and they caved in on themselves. One of the really enjoyable parts of the gingerbread house creation was its destruction. Can you think of any more exciting end to all that work than burning it to the ground?! We couldn’t either. I think I have Sarah to thank for that one.
This year I started thinking about Christmas traditions I’d like to start in our family. Gingerbread house making came to mind immediately. I didn’t manage to bake the pieces this year, which at first made me feel bad and a little bit like a slacker mom. I stay at home for goodness sake! Shouldn’t I have time to make a gingerbread house from scratch all while wearing pearls and having my hair in pin curls? I guess I’m just not that good! The truth is, I am getting better at prioritizing (I am by no means good at it!) in our lives and realizing that if I’m a stressed out mess I am not a good mom. I recently read an article that said, “If it makes you yell, don’t do it.” or something like that. In other words, don’t do so much (for your kids or for yourself or for others) that all of those commitments make you yell at your children or your spouse. So I bought a kit and it was actually wonderful. Easy to put together, no worries about the pieces not fitting together correctly, and no messy kitchen! And while Carson didn’t LOVE it as much as I would have liked, he did get into it and put things where he wanted them to go. But don’t try to eat anything off of it if you come over. I am pretty sure he licked everything he put on the house.
