Gingerbread Houses

     We spent Christmas 2017 in Seaford, Delaware with my 97-year-old mother,

…here in her Christmas sweater.  

     When Tom and I made the decision to spend Christmas with my mom I felt more than a twinge of sadness that we wouldn’t be at home to share Christmas with our children and our two granddaughters who always fly in from Los Angeles with their parents for Christmas.

     When I told our son Tommy that we’d be spending Christmas at Grammy’s this year he replied, “Hmmm…I’ll take a few days off work and go with you.”

    When I called our daughter Maria and son-in-law Justin in L. A. to tell them we wouldn't be home for their Christmas visit my daughter said, "I haven't seen Grammy in years. And this would  be a  great opportunity for the girls to get to know their Great-Grammy! We'll fly out to Grammy's for Christmas!"

     When I called my daughter Claire and son-in-law Miguel in Chicago to tell them that Christmas had been moved to Grammy's Claire said, "Great! We're going, too!"

     Sadly, only Callie and Theresa weren't able to make it. 

     We decided that next year we'd all be together somehow. If the fates allow.   
    So Tom, Tommy and I set out on the morning of Thursday, December 21 on the 10-hour drive from Columbus to Seaford, stopping at our perennial favorite place along the way for lunch just outside West Virginia ,

…the Subway in the Ohio River Valley Mall,

…still, happily, a busy, active, “live” mall, among the dwindling number of such societal marketplaces in the Age of Amazon.

    For dinner we stopped at our usual spot en route, Hellas, a Greek restaurant between Baltimore and Annapolis,  

…famous for its gargantuan and tasty crab cakes, Tom’s favorite, which he had with a side of grilled eggplant,

…though I also gave a thumbs-up to my eggplant, mushrooms, and fries, 

…as did Tommy to his grilled chicken with sweet potato fries.

     When we arrived at my mother’s around 9 pm she greeted us with some sweet snacks,

…holiday gifts from neighbors and friends who’d been stopping by to thank my mom for the carol-singing/Christmas party for 50 people she’d thrown the previous Sunday.

     My mom’s house looked cozy and nice as always,

…especially with the festive holiday touches.

     One of my mom’s cats, Blackie, who is the size of a small panther.

     My mom’s three cats, Hidey, Blackie, and Mable. 

     Maria, Justin and the girls were also flying from Los Angeles into Baltimore that day and renting a car for the 2-hour drive to Seaford. However their plane was delayed and they didn’t arrive at my mom’s until after 3 a.m., for which arrival I was the designated greeter.
     As my daughter and son-in-law carried their sleeping children into the house and plopped them into the king-sized bed that they were sharing with me, my daughter whispered to me, “All the girls have been talking about the whole trip is making ginger bread houses. Please tell me you brought the ginger bread houses!”

     Indeed, I had.

     The following morning the girls sprung out of bed having no idea where they were, knowing only that they wanted to make their gingerbread houses.
       However, there was, alas, first breakfast to be made,

...so the girls had to content themselves with playing,

…and checking out their surroundings.

     For breakfast Justin made us some yummy eggs,

     One of my mom’s super caretakers, Laura, who takes my mom to Mass every morning, stopped in for a visit.

…and snapped a couple of shots for us.

     Then finally it was time to start the gingerbread houses,

…the sides of which, we learned, had to first be glued together with a stiff icing,

…then left to dry for an hour before the roofs could be attached. I suggested to the girls that they go and play for a while,

…but they wanted to stand by and watch the houses while the icing dried.

     Finally, to help the time go by faster, they decided to join the grown-ups who were in the dining room chatting. 

     After an hour we could glue the roofs on, 

…except that the instructions said that now we had to wait another four hours for the roof to dry before we could start decorating!

     So in the meantime the girls did some crafts with Uncle Tommy,

...played with Blackie,

…and  with Grandpa.

                Early in the evening Claire and Miguel arrived from Washington D.C.,

...to where they’d arrived from Chicago earlier in the day then spent the day sight-seeing.
     And by then dinner time had rolled around, so we went to everybody’s favorite Seaford spot,

...the Stargate Diner

…a homey place with lots of nice sayings on the walls,

…and great food at inexpensive prices.
Among our selections:

   the Cream of Crab Soup,

...the Tilapia,

The Veggie Wrap,

...the Chicken Alfredo,

...and the yummy apple sauce.

      When we returned home after dinner the gingerbread houses were finally ready to be decorated,

…so the girls and I got to it,

…while the other grown-ups did some karaoke, the music and lyrics provided by their cells phones,

…even my mom, who did duets with Maria of some oldies but goodies from her heyday, “Singing in the Rain,” and “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me,” 

...while Claire danced along.

     Then, at last, the finished masterpieces.