As we get closer to Christmas, I have one more cake story
for you here. Actually, a house story,
gingerbread houses to be exact. My mother made homemade gingerbread houses as
well as cakes to sell for extra funds during my youth. Each time we created these warm yummy deserts,
it would be an experience of smells and tastes.
No two houses were ever alike. That
is what made them fun. There was no ‘cookie
cutter’ home. No play on puns there…
So, when my mom handed down all the cake bins, the
gingerbread recipe, and cut out forms were included. I started down the road creating different
cakes and then gingerbread houses for Christmas. It became a tradition for our home when the
kids were little and then grew into a small business for Christmas gifts since funds
were short. The holidays would begin
with a flurry of baking the forms for each house. The smell of gingerbread permeated throughout
the house. Christmas music was playing
even though the Thanksgiving items were not securely put away yet.
The kids would gather around the houses as I decorated each
one and added an upside-down ice cream cone decorated green for the trees and
vanilla wafers for a small fence. The yards
were decorated with marshmallow snowmen and multicolored candies covered the
entire house. I would bake a few extra
gingerbread men for the houses and any stray child that wanted to sample the
goods. Between the warm gingerbread and
the candy in the house, each child was captivated by the process because they
knew they might receive some of the extras left behind.
I began selling the houses to friends and neighbors for the
holidays. Then the process intensified,
and a local restaurant wanted different sized gingerbread houses to sell to
their customers for the holidays. That
was exciting and gave me the creative license to make new sizes and shapes for each
customer. However, the small hobby became a distribution center as the
customers from the restaurants wanted multiple houses and asked if I would ship
them out of the state. Sure, why not
right?
Each year I would start earlier and earlier to get ahead of
the orders and the process until one year I spent more time making and decorating
houses than my own home. I needed to
stop even though it was financially working.
It was taking too much time away from my family and my home.
So one last year I let everyone know and packed away all my
supplies for good. It was a sad day, but
everyone understood. I only brought the
supplies out for family times together from that point on.
Before my mom passed, we carried out all the supplies once
again, and made a bunch of gingerbread houses so the new family and extended
kids could be a part of the process. Everyone
loved the moment and once again gingerbread and candy permeated the air along with
Christmas music, of course.
Each year we make less gingerbread houses, but each time I
bring out the supplies it brings me right back to when mom and I were in the
kitchen. We made it happen no matter how
much room we had. When I smell
gingerbread during the holidays it reminds me of the many experiences I shared
with my mother, customers, and my family.
Happy times and a bit of craziness here and there, but so worth it.
What are your family traditions that took a turn or you
still do each year?
Proverbs 31:15 (NIV)
She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for
her family and portions for her female servants.
Copyright © 2022 Peggy A. Priest. All Rights Reserved.
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