by Jeanne Rogers
Every December I invite family and friends to a ginger bread decorating event at my home. The name of the event is deceiving as there is not gingerbread involved.
Thirty-five years ago, when my first born was one year old, I was young and ambitious, with nothing on my mind but providing a means for gathering people that I love together. Holidays were a perfect opportunity to do this. I saw a picture of a gingerbread house and thought making one together would be an excellent way to gather my loved ones.
I invited family and friends to my home to make gingerbread houses. Being a person who doesn’t spend much time in the kitchen, I had no idea how much work goes into making gingerbread and how fragile it is.
The first gingerbread decorating event was a total flop, or so I thought. The Gingerbread walls would not support the roof, it all collapsed into a pile of brown mush. The ginger aroma filled the room, as we all looked sadly upon the brown, yummy smelling blob that towered the middle of the table.
What could I do? I had a kitchen full of children with their excitement fading and several adults staring at me with looks of disbelief and disappointment, they all feared gingerbread decorating was not going to happen.
I quickly grabbed cereal , milk, tea and any other container of food within my grasp and dumped its contents into a Tupperware container, tossed the empty boxes on the table next to the bowls of candy and confidently stated, “Paint the boxes with the white frosting on the table.” The children enthusiastically responded to my request as the adults looked at me dumbfounded. Then I instructed them all to stick a variety of candy on their frosted box.
Slowly, one by one, their boxes transformed into unique, beautiful, gingerbread houses. No one could tell what was underneath all that frosting and candy. Everyone was proud of their creation. Each child took home their own holiday decoration to fill their home with the aroma of Christmas.
And thus began the holiday tradition of decorating gingerbread houses with no gingerbread on the premises. Nevertheless, the Annual Gingerbread Decorating Event continues to this day.