Susan Dromey Heeter’s family competes for best gingerbread house for Christmas and guess who was “least accomplished.” Susan Dromey Heeter photo
By Susan Dromey Heeter, Joyful Musings
So, dear Joyful Musers, you’ve made it to another end, another grand finale of a year, a Christmas Day’s departure, a final moment of life.
And I muse joyfully your endings allow for even better beginnings, new starts, new goals to achieve – or not.
As for me? I’ll walk the dog more and ideally learn how to make a decent gingerbread house.
My little family and I had a gingerbread house competition on Christmas day and mine was deemed – well, not necessarily the worst, but by far the least accomplished.
As my husband and daughters adorned their delightful little cottages with thatched roofs, with M & M walkways, mine turned out, in the words of one of the off site judges, as “more like a garage.” I thought it simply eclectic, modern, unique.
I don’t understand how to get that frosting to stick, my walls kept falling down. And perhaps that is something to aspire to in 2025 – fewer walls, more light, asking for help with all things frosting.
It’s hard to build and decorate without a solid foundation and while my gingerbread house was colorful and truly open concept, in real life, it might not work out so well.
My husband’s creation featured peanut M & M loungers around a campfire; one of my daughters had a jacuzzi in her yard.
Mine was more of a desert theme, I suggested the location was Arizona or New Mexico. Those states must have gingerbread houses as well – and I Imagine they have gardens of sand and cacti.
Perhaps they are gingerbread bungalows, gingerbread pueblos.
And back to the foundation. It matters. Alas, so do finishing touches, colorful adornments, creative ambitions.
I muse joyfully your new beginnings invite all and celebrate the gloriousness of new, of attempting a new craft or goal.
Delight in your attempts, your failures, your mistakes, your triumphs, your new.
As for me, my next gingerbread house may be a tent or a yurt. I muse joyfully yours will represent your inner artist as well and your walls bring in the light of a 2025.
Susan Dromey Heeter is a writer from Newmarket who recently let her hair go au natural white. Writing has been her passion since her English majoring days at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dromey Heeter has lived in The Netherlands, Alaska and currently basks in all things New England, including the frigid winters. An avid swimmer, Dromey Heeter’s great passion is to bring back body surfing as most children have no idea how to ride waves without ridiculous boogie boards.
