I headed over to my Aunt's house tonight to grab some videos. Of course, trips often evolve into a multi-faceted, multi-experiential encounter once I'm in the door. Tonight's conversation heralded back to younger times and years long ago: the decorating of gingerbread houses! Some of my very favoritist memories are of having my Aunt be in town for the holidays and with her craftiness (and high tolerance for juvenile fun plus patience for messiness) we were all handed boxes of graham crackers, a foiled shoe box lid, icing, and tons of candy. We had fantastic creations: trains, Noah's ark, the White House, a Southern mansion, a modernist villa.... In our enthusiasm we went all out! I loved the time of creativity and the pure joy of laughing with cousins, planning and figuring out how to make dreams reality, being covered in sugar, engaging as a family.... Times of heartwarming connection that would only happen at Christmas for us with relatives located all over the states during the rest of the year.
And so, with four young boys in the house, my Aunt is planning a "gingerbread" house making night! We only talked about the date tonight, but quicker than you can say "Jiminy Cricket, Martha Stewart" we had out pretzel rods, were melting chocolate, and creating chocolate covered pretzels! My Aunt has seriously got talent in the resource department. Need pretzel rods? Check. Want white dipping chocolate? Oh look, its right here! A little chocolate drizzle? Let's get right on that. Peppermint flavored sprinkles in the shape of candy canes? Voila! (Are you kidding me?! No. I'm not. This is all fact. This really happened!) Our little project happened before I knew it, and about 15 minutes later--start to finish, seriously--I was out the door with my creations.
Here's to sweet holiday treats, Christmas traditions, and time spent with family!
