My family is full of Christmas traditions...This one has to be my favorite...
Every little kid loves to make a ginger bread house sometime around Christmas...well every adult in my family loves to make a ginger bread VILLAGE around Christmas! My parents made life magical growing up. They wanted us to have family traditions that we could take to our future families and this is one that I'm sure will last for quite a while. We do everything from Waffle's and Ice Cream breakfasts of Birthdays, finding our Easter lunch that is hidden in plastic baggies around our yard and house, Sleeping Under the Christmas tree the day we put it up, and ginger bread villages. (My dad has made some kind of pact with the Easter Bunny because they hide our Easter baskets Easter morning. If we can't find it before we go to church then we just don't get the Candy till after. The hunt has become substantially harder the older we have become!)
The Gingerbread Villages started, I think, because each year our houses/trains seemed to get bigger and bigger until one year we decided to combine and make the "SNOWED INN!" It was a huge ski lodge cabin, some how my brother figured out how to make a ski hill complete with chairlift and everything all out of food and frosting! Each year we have become more creative. The pictures above were in 2006. We decided to make "Whoo Ville" From "The Grinch that Stole Christmas." Pretty impressive hu! Last year we were in the Caribbean and my mom went so far as to bring the candy and graham crackers only to find the graham crackers too soggy to stand because of the humidity. We thought of building a "sand ginger-bread castle" in honor of Christmas on the beach but it just didn't happen.
So this year, I actually spent Christmas alone. I was pretty excited about it because I had planned some opportunities to serve dinners around the community hopefully filling my time with a little more service and experiencing the real meaning of Christmas. I was pretty disappointed when my Christmas eve plans fell through with a phone call telling me that they had enough volunteers for the dinner and to call next year. Talk about putting a damper in my Christmas Spirit! So I ran to Wal-Mart a few minutes before it closed on Christmas Eve and picked up a box Ginger bread house...Needless to say mine leaves much to be desired from previous years but its the tradition that counts and for two hours of my time it actually felt like Christmas on Christmas Eve!
Although it entertained me, the time we spend together as a family being creative, laughing, and challenging each others artistic abilities will never be replaced and it reminded me how important family and loved ones really are during this important time of year. So for each of you who spent the holidays alone, please know that you were in my thoughts and tears. Next year no matter how far the drive or how soon I will see my family, I will not spend it alone! Even if I have to go and sleep in a chair at the nursing home with someone else who may have spent it alone!
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