I hope that you enjoy this issue of the Cook County
News-Herald
as much as I do. This is our official Christmas edition, filled to the brim with holiday greetings from businesses all over the county. I look forward to the Christmas paper all year. I love turning the pages and seeing all the interesting and amusing ads from local restaurants, grocery stores, liquor stores, gift shops, and gas stations. It’s like a giant Christmas card to our community—from our community.
I apologize to folks who don’t celebrate Christmas and to those who are sick of the holiday already. I am one of those people who revel in the holiday. The month of December passes by far too quickly for me. There is never enough time to make enough merry!
Although I did find time to schedule what has become a holiday tradition—the construction and decoration of a gingerbread house with my granddaughters, RaeAnne and Genevieve. Dedicated readers may recall that last year, our attempt at building a gingerbread house failed miserably.
The gingerbread kit, whose brand name will remain unnamed, was a disaster from start to finish. Poorly packaged, the walls and a roof panel were cracked when we opened the box. The readymade frosting was too thick to work with and the instructions were not user-friendly. I believe the kit may have been made in China.
I do take partial blame for the disaster because I did not read the obscure instructions in advance. As our gingerbread structure crumbled to become large gingerbread cookies, I realized I would have to try something different next year.
And I did. I purchased a Wilton gingerbread house kit. I read the directions in advance. This kit was a bit more complicated than the other—I had to use a mixer to make the frosting, but that made sense. Theicing is freshly mixed, not hardening on the shelf in a plastic pouch. The instructions said to keep the bowl of frosting covered with a wet towel to keep it from hardening while we were still working on the house. Again, that made sense. I also learned that we would need to let the gingerbread house sit between various construction phases. Theside and peaked walls were to be set in place and left to harden for an hour—the roof panels, two hours before frosting and decorating. Knowing that there would be a lengthy wait, I planned for it. We had Christmas coloring books and storybooks to read while we waited. We opened the decorative candy packets and counted out an even amount of pieces for each girl—eating the odd numbered pieces, of course!
The planning and patience paid off. It resulted in the world’s most adorable gingerbread house. I know, I’m biased because my granddaughters built it. But it really is cute. It is solid and sturdy and lopsidedly adorned with colorful candies.
I took a picture of the girls with the gingerbread house in front of our Christmas tree and it is now on my computer desktop—seeing their frosting covered faces smiling over their creation makes me smile.
May you also find many reasons to smile this holiday season!
Had I but one penny in the
world. Thou should’st have it to
buy gingerbread.
William Shakespeare,
Love’s Labours Lost
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