Squeezing out the mop for the last time, my eyes scan the kitchen and family room for remains of last night’s Annual Firepit – Gingerbread House-Making Event. Into the wee hours of the night the fun continued as our kids and the grandchildren constructed holiday gingerbread houses and gathered around the firepit for hotdogs, s’mores, and hobo pies. Lights sparkled on the decorations that adorned each room of our home and music rang out in all areas, inside and out. The air was crisp and cool and the butter-yellow moon shone in the hazy sky. There was a four-foot Christmas tree with blinking lights to decorate in the bedroom now officially bedecked for the grand children that visit here often. In the kitchen and family room, there were stations set up for designing tiny replicas of homes fit for fairies and gnomes. Dozens of small glass bowls were filled with candies, licorice whips, red hots, and sugar-coated jellies. Piping bags filled with white frosting squeezed out roofing and icicles as well as enabling dozens of gumdrops and varied adornments to adhere to the tasty gingerbread structures. Laughter and giggles rang through the house and, “outdoor voices” shrieked with delight out on the lanai and in the backyard. Poppie was the official “keeper of the fire”, stirring and stoking it as curls of smoke rose into the sky. Steaming crockpots of baked beans and cheesy corn casserole completed plates of the juicy dogs as they browned on telescoping sticks over the fire. As the evening ended and the last of the family drove away, we agreed heartily that this is surely one of the most enjoyable of all family traditions in our household.
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