Holiday Update 2

 The next event of note was our annual Gingerbread Party.  I’ll preface this report with a brief review of what precipitated this party in the first place.  One of the traditions I had while my children were growing up was making gingerbread houses with them and (sometimes) their friends.  When Monte and I moved to Minnesota our daughters were already in college in Utah and their lives were well underway.  Bill was entering high school.  I felt distinctly obsolete and I went through a depression that took me a several years to actually get a handle on.  By that time, Bill had finished high school and gone on a Mission.  I had fallen into a serious apathy about Christmas, I kept saying I hated it.  I remember being a real killjoy – just thinking about it makes me sad. I went through the motions, more or less, I remembered “the reason for the season” just fine; but I could not seem to find the cheer.  One afternoon I realized that what I was REALLY missing about Christmas was the traditions I’d observed with my children.  That was what inspired the Annual Gingerbread Party. My intention is to have a party that is specifically for the children in the family.  I want them to get to know their Auntie Jan and to have memories of spicy gingerbread and creative expression in connection with Auntie Jan’s house.  Usually Wyatt and Willa (my niece and nephew who live next door) help me do the baking but I’ve been so busy this year that I let it get too late to be able to work around all our schedules, so I baked 14 houses.  I like big houses so that there is plenty of “scope for the imagination” when decorating.  This year we really had a blast. We made some Christmas tree ornaments as the children arrived.  Then we had hot dogs and mac & cheese for lunch and decorated the houses after that.  Bill, Stephanie, Ben, & Elodie joined us in a video conference on the computer. I had sent the gingerbread house pieces to Bill so he could put the together and they would have a house to decorate. It was SO much fun to listen while everyone caught up with each other.  The kids had so much fun and were really well behaved. What a great family we have.  NO more depression at Christmas.  I do miss my children and especially my grandchildren at this time of year, but I love my little nieces and nephews and especially my sisters-in-law so much.  I’ve embedded the photo album containing pics of this party into the slideshow in this blog.