Gingerbread 2023

For many years now, Christmas at my home has revolved around gingerbread decorating and eggnog.  We open presents, too, but we wanted to build in something that moved the focus of the day away from that, and gingerbread decorating seems to be a great shared creative experience.  

Everyone helps!

I love watching people get immersed in decorating.

What emerges each year is a house with a story.  The family is so enamored of Gosling's (usually macabre) narration, they assign her the role of creating the accompanying video.  

This year, Gosling brought a bunch of friends to help.
If I could upload the video, you'd hear many of their voices in the video.

The video she made this year is apparently too big to upload, so I'll transcribe it here for your entertainment.  (And did I mention "macabre"?  There's a bit of gratuitous gingerbread gruesomeness ahead.

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Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there lived two brothers, who lived in a gingerbread land  made of candy, all candy. It turns out there were also other people, sheep, rainbow mermaids on the roof, trying to make their siren calls.   

Mermaid on the roof, sheep on the ground.

Now the brother Angus was a straight shooter; he wore his hand-made sweaters buttoned up. He had his red hair dyed to perfection.  

Inkling "knitted" this cabled sweater for Angus.

How to dye your hair red in Gingerbread land.

And then he had this brother, named Argus, who enjoyed a more interesting life. He could see a lot more too, with a lot more eyes.  You can tell by their fashion sense that they're related.  [me: ???]

Argus on the roof, with a chocolate cow.

There was a big accident in this town at 3:00.  You see, the young man over here had been cleaning gutters on the roof with no protection, without any ladders, and he fell to his death. The doctor here tried to save him.  It was covid, so he was still wearing a mask.  

When gingerbread people fall,
sometimes their heads break off.

It was extra tragic, because the house didn't even have gutters -- it just had roofing --so he was cleaning the house for nothing.  But as he passed, the biblically accurate* angel (behold!  we bring you tidings of bad joy!) came to carry his soul to heaven. 

*  The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, . . . -- Ezekial 10

And also the angel was concerned for another soul; it was still questionable what had happened to him or where he may be going, but he's in his last days . . . but he does have his comfort peanut. (Even though he's extremely allergic to peanuts, so it's kind of  a poor choice of a comfort object).

Gingerbread man down, clasping a comfort peanut

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And. . . . that's the end of the story.  Yeah.

Hope your Christmas was magical!