Gingerbread Cake

Every year, we bake a gingerbread cake, using Laura Ingalls' famous recipe, as part of our Christmas traditions. Usually we do it on Epiphany, and have a final "Happy Birthday" party for Jesus as we finish up our study on the twelve days of Christmas and remember the visit the wise men paid to Jesus and his parents, but this year we were busy, so we had to put it off. So, tonight, the smell of gingerbread filled the house, along with lots of noise... lots of noise. Haha!

I love traditions, no matter how small. They make the year seem a little more thought out, a little more purposeful. They create memories that build and build as they are added onto. When we cut the cake after singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, several little voices are going to ask if they can have a piece with an M&M in it... our gingerbread cake got a bigger and bigger smile, and more buttons, over the years, until Mama decided to just reduce it to it's original state  and pass out loose M&M's to whoever didn't manage to snag one ;). Somebody (usually Tori) will say, "Hey, remember how Daddy used to read "The Gingerbread Man"?!?!!? Daddy, you should read it again!". And Daddy responds that he doesn't even remember what he used to improvise with, so Tori will have to read it so that everything is remembered. If you thought that the original Gingerbread Man of that book was sassy and provoking, it had nothing on the Gingerbread Man that Daddy created when Tori and I were little, haha! 

The little ones added the M&M's to the cake this year, and I think it came out with quite the little "character" attached, haha :). Tori said it looks like Emmi somehow, heehee :).

Blessings,
Bri :)