What Goes Around, Comes Around
Jessie: In NH, crossing fingers for a white Christmas!
I know I have posted here before about quirky and even ridiculous holidays that seem to be invented to fill media outlets with something to natter on about, but the truth is, I m kind of obsessed with the kitschy fun of it all! Today I was delighted to note is Gingerbread House Day. I absolutely adore gingerbread houses!
I have long loved miniature houses of all sorts. I have a cherished collection of teapots shaped like houses. I longed for a dollhouse as a child. I set up an entire Christmas village as part of my holiday decorations. But my very favorite of all is the gingerbread house.
It is a passion I was able to indulge in as an adult. I had never made, decorated, or to my memory, ever seen one in real life until I had children of my own and spotted a Christmas Cookie magazine from Better Homes and Gardens at a grocery checkout when my first was an elementary schooler. I flipped through it quickly and bought it on impulse despite our tight budget at the time.
By late the next day I had decided that in order to follow through some accountability was required so I issued invitations to several friends with children and offered to make plain houses for them all to come and decorate in a week’s time. If I had known how much work it would be I might never have started! Still, I decided on an A-frame style for the houses and by the time everyone arrived there was a slightly wonky, but totally serviceable gingerbread house for each of the children.
Over the years the guest list grew and the houses leveled up to include four walls and a roof. I received a Kitchen Aid mixer for Mother’s Day one year to make stirring the stiff dough less daunting. I picked up a tip for making a sort of super glue out of melted sugar to hold the pieces together before covering the joins with royal icing. I figured out that I didn’t need to make 3-D houses for toddlers and could make oversized cookies for them to decorate instead.
Eventually, the children all became too old to still look forward to decorating them and too young to feel nostalgic about it. I’ll admit, I was a bit heartbroken. And maybe just slightly relieved. For a couple of years, the sweet and spicy scents of molasses, ginger, and cinnamon did not fill my kitchen. Bags of just the right candies did not pile up in the dining room waiting for the guests to squeal at the sight of them. Globs of royal icing did not cling stubbornly to my hardwood floors.
But then, a couple of years ago my children all got together and asked for my recipe. They worked together to mix the dough, cut the shapes, bake it up, and assemble the pieces. They mixed up the royal icing, found the pastry bags to apply it with panache, and set about collaboratively creating a gingerbread house for us all to enjoy. I have had a life so far filled with so many delightful memories, but that one is amongst my favorites. Now if you will excuse me, I think I might just go and whip up a gingerbread house!
Readers, have you ever made a gingerbread house? Do you have a favorite holiday memory?
