by Abby Klein
“Hey, Baxter!” I shouted. “I could hear you jingling all the way!”
As soon as Baxter heard me say his name, he yanked himself free from Mrs. Golden’s grip and bounded across the lawn toward me.
“No, Baxter! Come back!” Mrs. Golden shouted. But it was too late.
Baxter ran right through the lights we had laid out on the lawn and got himself completely tangled up.
I ran over to him. “Now look what you did, boy.”
Baxter wagged his tail and covered my face with wet, slobbery dog kisses.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry!” Mrs. Golden kept saying over and over.
“Don’t worry about it,” said my dad. “As usual, Baxter was just really excited to see Freddy.”
“At least I’ve gotten really good at untangling Christmas lights, so I can get Baxter out pretty quickly I think.”
Baxter licked my face again.
“Stay still, boy, and stop kissing me for just a minute, so I can get these lights off you!”
I finally freed Baxter from the lights, and Mrs. Golden grabbed his leash. “Come on, Baxter, let’s go,” she said, giving him a little tug. “I think you’ve caused enough problems for one day.”
I patted Baxter’s head. “You are one crazy dog, you know that?”
Baxter gave me one more lick on the cheek and ran off. My dad and I got back to work. A little while later, we were finally finished.
“Whew! I didn’t think we’d ever get done untangling this mess of lights,” I said.
“You worked really hard,” said my dad. “Now comes the fun part. Where do you want to start?”
“With the big tree! With the big tree!” I shouted, jumping up and down.
My dad laughed. “I’ll go get the ladder.”
My dad brought out the ladder and set it up right next to the big pine tree that looks exactly like a huge Christmas tree.
I grabbed a string of lights and ran over to him.
“Okay, Freddy, I know you’re excited, but I want you to go slow,” said my dad. “Slow and steady, all right?”
“Okeydokey, Dad,” I said, giving him two thumbs up. I started to climb the ladder, but I was a little shaky at first.
“Hold on to the sides of the ladder,” said my dad. “I’m going to hold the back of your pants.”
“Remember, no wedgies.”
My dad chuckled. “I promise, no wedgies.”
I got to the top of the ladder and looked down. “Boy, I am really high up!” I started to wobble a little.
“Look up!” yelled my dad. “Don’t look down. Take that string of lights and start wrapping them around the tree.”
I carefully wrapped that string of lights around the top of the tree, and then my dad handed me another bunch of lights for the middle part of the tree. Finally, I stepped down a few steps and finished wrapping the bottom.
“Come on down, Freddy, and see what a great job you did!” said my dad. “I’ll go plug in the lights so you can really see what it looks like.”
I jumped off the last two steps of the ladder and stood back to take a look. My dad stuck in the plug and the tree lit up like a rainbow.
My mouth dropped open. WOW! It looked amazing, and I had done it all by myself. My dad came back over to me. “You know what Josh would say?”
“What?” said my dad.
“He would say this tree looks really SWEET!”
The next afternoon when I got home from school, instead of going to my room, I ran straight to the kitchen. Grammy Rose was already there waiting for me.
“Hi, Grammy!” I said, giving her a great big hug.
“Hi, Freddy!” she said, squeezing me tight. “Your mom tells me you helped your dad hang the Christmas lights yesterday.”
“I did! I even got to climb the ladder and hang the lights on the big pine tree!” I said.
“You did? Really? That is very high up. You are getting so old. I just can’t believe it!” said Grammy.
I smiled. “I also helped him hang all of the lights on the bushes.”
“That’s very impressive,” said Grammy. “Before I leave, you’ll have to plug them all in, so I can see how beautiful they all look.”
“Sure thing, Grammy.”
“So now are you ready to make some gingerbread people?”
“I sure am, Grammy. I can’t wait!”
“Great!” said Grammy. “Why don’t you go wash your hands first. I don’t think your friends want their cookies to taste like dirt.”
“Good idea,” said my mom. “Gingerbread and dirt don’t go so well together.”
Suzie walked into the kitchen. “Did I just hear you say gingerbread and dirt? I didn’t think Grammy’s secret ingredient was dirt!”
“Oh, heavens no!” said Grammy. “I was just telling Freddy that he needed to wash his hands before we started making cookies, so his cookies didn’t taste like dirt.”
“Can I help make cookies?” Suzie asked.
“Of course,” I said. “After all, it was your idea.”
Suzie and I both washed our hands, and then we went over to the table where Grammy had the dough.
“Who wants to use the rolling pin first?” asked Grammy.
“I do! I do!” I said, waving my hand high in the air.
Suzie laughed. “It’s not school, Ding-Dong. You don’t have to raise your hand to get a turn.”
“All right, Freddy, you can go first,” said Grammy. “I chilled the dough this morning, so it shouldn’t stick to the rolling pin, but let’s put a little flour down on the table before we roll out the dough, just to be sure.”
I reached into the bag of flour, grabbed a handful, and spread it around on the table. Then I rubbed my hands around on my head.
My mom came in just then. She gasped. “Freddy! What are you doing?”
Using an old lady’s voice, I said, “I’m just a little old grandma. My name is Grammy Rose. I have a secret recipe, and I make the best gingerbread cookies in the whole world.”
Grammy laughed. “Freddy, you are such a goofball sometimes.”
“See?” I said in my regular voice. “My hair is white, just like Grammy’s.”
My mom just shook her head.
Grammy handed me a hunk of dough. “Now, you want to try to roll it evenly. You don’t want the sides to get too thin, okay?”
I grabbed the rolling pin and started to roll out the dough.
“Really push,” said Grammy. “Use those muscles.”
“What muscles?” Suzie said, laughing.
I flexed my muscles like a superhero. “See, I’ve got muscles,” I said.
“I think I need a magnifying glass to see them,” said Suzie.
I ignored her and pushed the rolling pin a little bit harder. “How’s that, Grammy?”
“That looks good to me,” she said. “I think you are ready to start using the cookie cutters.”
“How about if I make the girls,” said Suzie, “and you make the boys.”
“I like that idea,” said my mom.
We divided the dough in half. I took half and Suzie took the other half. I picked up the cookie cutter and started cutting out gingerbread boys.
“Oh no!” I said.
“What’s the problem?” asked Grammy.
“I am not really good at this,” I said. “This one lost an arm, and this one lost his leg.”
“Sounds like they need to be taken to the gingerbread man hospital,” my mom said, laughing.
“If the dough sticks to the cookie cutter, just give it a little poke in the center like this,” said Grammy, “and it will pop right out.”
When I cut out the next one, I tried Grammy’s little trick, and it worked! “Hey, look! This one came out all in one piece!”
“Super! Try another one,” said Grammy.
The next one popped right out, too. “Where did you learn that trick?” I asked Grammy.
“From my grandmother, your great-great-grandmother. She love
d to bake, too. She was the one who gave me this secret recipe.”
“How many of these do we need to cut out?” asked Suzie.
“We need ten boys and ten girls. There are twenty kids in my class.”
“You’d better make a few extras just in case a few break on the way to school,” said my mom.
“Good thinking,” said Grammy.
Suzie rolled out some more dough, so we could finish cutting out all of the cookies we needed. Then we put them on cookie sheets and stuck them in the oven to bake.
The smell of warm gingerbread started to float through the kitchen.
“Mmmmmmm!” I said, sniffing deeply and patting my tummy. “That smells so yummy.”
“That smell makes me think of Christmas,” said Grammy.
“Me, too!” said Suzie.
“Good thing we made some extras because I’m going to have to eat one tonight for dessert!” I said, licking my lips.
When the cookies were finished baking, we set them on the counter to cool.
“What are we going to decorate them with?” I asked.
“I brought some frosting, M&M’S, raisins, Red Hots, and some sprinkles,” said Grammy.
“What kind of sprinkles?” I asked.
“Rainbow sprinkles.”
“Rainbow sprinkles! I love rainbow sprinkles! I put them on my ice cream all the time,” I said.
“I also brought the special tops for the frosting tubes, so you can squeeze it out in different designs,” said Grammy.
As soon as the cookies were cool, we got to work decorating.
“These cookies look like they came from a real bakery,” I said with a big grin on my face. “No one is going to believe Suzie and I made them.”
“They do look amazing,” said my mom.
I threw my arms around Grammy Rose and hugged her tight. “Thank you, Grammy. Thank you so much for helping me.”
“You’re welcome, Freddy. I think I had just as much fun as you did. I hope your friends and the kids in the hospital like them.”
“Like them? They are going to LOVE them!”
I was up early again on Friday morning because that was gingerbread house day! I grabbed the container of cookies on my way out the door.
“Don’t run, Freddy!” my mom called after me. “You’ll break all of the cookies!”
The bus ride seemed to take forever, but when I finally got to school, I couldn’t believe my eyes! Miss Clark had made twenty gingerbread houses. It looked like a little village in our classroom.
“Please be very careful when you come in today,” said Miss Clark. “We don’t want any of our gingerbread houses to get broken.”
Even though Miss Clark had just given us a warning, Max still pushed his way in.
“Max, if you break one of the houses, then you won’t have one to decorate,” said Miss Clark.
“Okay, okay,” Max muttered under his breath.
“Before you put your backpacks away, please get out whatever you brought for decorating and bring it to the rug,” said Miss Clark.
“I brought mini candy canes, and I painted my fingernails red and white to match,” said Chloe, waving her fingernails in the air for us all to see. “Aren’t they adorable?”
“Whatever,” said Max.
“My abuela made this special white frosting,” said Jessie. “When she lived in Mexico, she used to make wedding cakes with this frosting. It’s really fluffy, so it will be easy to spread.”
“Wow!” said Miss Clark. “Homemade frosting. What a treat! I thought you were going to bring us frosting in a can. This is extra special.”
“Oh!” said Max. “I forgot to get my gumdrops out of my backpack.” He jumped up off the rug and raced toward his cubby. As he was running he bumped into a table, and one of the gingerbread houses went flying. Josh caught it right before it hit the ground.
“Awesome catch,” I said.
“That was quite impressive,” said Miss Clark.
“You’d better try out for our baseball team this spring,” said Jessie. “If you can catch a gingerbread house like that, I can’t wait to see what you can do with a baseball.”
“Max, you’re lucky Josh caught that,” said Miss Clark. “If he hadn’t, then you wouldn’t be decorating a house today. What do you say to Josh?”
“Thanks,” Max mumbled, handing his gumdrops to the teacher.
“Let’s see what else people brought in,” said Miss Clark.
One person brought in red and green M&M’S. Someone else brought in round, striped peppermints. Another person brought gummy bears. Someone else had pretzel sticks. Another had marshmallows … and the treats kept coming.
Everyone had given their donation to Miss Clark, everyone except me.
“Freddy, did you bring in something?” asked Miss Clark. “I don’t think you’ve given it to me yet.”
I nodded and smiled. “Yes, I did,” I said, handing Miss Clark my container of cookies. “I made gingerbread people for kids to put next to their gingerbread houses.”
“How creative!” said Miss Clark. “I’ve never had anyone bring in gingerbread people before. What a great idea!”
The grin on my face spread from ear to ear.
“That is sweet!” said Josh. “Way to go, Freddy!”
“So is everyone ready to start decorating?” asked Miss Clark.
“Yes!” we all said at once.
“Okay,” said Miss Clark. “There are only a few rules.”
“AWWWW,” Max groaned. “I don’t like rules.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” Josh whispered to me.
Miss Clark ignored Max. “Rule number one: You must share all of the decorating treats. Rule number two: No eating any of the candy. I don’t want to see anyone putting one on their house and then one in their mouth. And finally rule number three: Have fun!”
Chloe jumped up and started twirling around the room. “This is going to be so much fun!”
“Hey, Angelina Ballerina, sit down,” Max barked.
Chloe glared at him and sashayed back to the rug.
“What’s that upside-down pointy ice cream cone on there for?” asked Jessie.
“That’s a tree,” said Miss Clark. “You can decorate that, too!”
Miss Clark put the decorating candies on plates in the middle of the tables and gave each of us some frosting and a knife. “Once you get your house, you may get started,” she said.
I put some frosting on my roof and started putting on the red and green M&M’S in a pattern: red, green, red, green.
“That’s cool, Freddy,” said Josh.
“Yeah,” said Jessie. “I like the pattern.”
Josh was lining the roof of his house with rows of gummy bears, one color in each row. “Pass me some more gummy bears, would you please, Freddy?” he said.
“Sure thing!” I said, smiling, passing him a big handful.
I looked over at Jessie. She was putting frosting next to her house.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” she said.
I went back to work. I put some frosting on the front of my house and made a rectangle shape with the peppermint candies. “Look!” I said to Josh. “I made a door.”
“I like that,” said Josh.
“Okay, now you can see what I made,” said Jessie.
We looked over at her house. She had laid two mini candy canes down side by side in the frosting and sat two gummy bears on top, one behind the other.
“What’s that?” asked Josh. “A surfboard?”
“Hey, Mr. California,” said Max. “People don’t go surfing in the snow!”
“It’s a sled,” I whispered to Josh.
“I’ve never been sledding before,” said Josh.
“Wait until we have our first snow day,” said Jessie. “Then everyone goes sledding on Cherry Hill. We’ll have to take you.”
“I can’t wait!” said Josh. “For my first snow day and my first sled ride!”
We kept working on our gingerbread houses. Josh used the pretzel sticks to make a fence around his house.
“Oh, a fence!” said Miss Clark. “What a clever idea.”
Jessie stacked three marshmallows to make a snowman. “You are just full of original ideas today,” Miss Clark said.
When everyone had finished decorating their houses, Miss Clark said, “And now for the finishing touch. I think it’s time for Freddy’s extra-special gingerbread people. I will give one to each of you, and you can place it wherever you want.”
“I’m going to put mine next to my snowman,” said Jessie. “It will look like the girl is building it.”
“I’m going to put some extra white frosting on mine to make white hair and a beard, so he looks like Santa, and then I’m going to put him on the roof!” said Josh.
“I’m going to put mine next to the big tree,” I said, smiling to myself, as I thought about how I climbed the ladder to decorate our big pine tree.
“I am so impressed with what you all have done today,” said Miss Clark.
“I hope the kids like them,” said Jessie.
“I know they are going to LOVE them,” said Miss Clark. “These gingerbread houses are going to bring a lot of happiness to those children in the hospital. And I think you’ve all learned what the holidays are really about … it’s not what you get, but what you can give to others.”
I smeared a little bit of the white frosting on my chin. “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, everybody!” I said. “Merry Christmas!”
And everybody laughed.
YOU WILL NEED:
Paper plate
Plastic knife
Graham crackers
Sugar
White frosting
Decorations (M&M’S, gummy bears, mini candy canes, mini marshmallows, pretzels, red licorice, round striped peppermint candies, gumdrops)
DIRECTIONS (NOTE: ASK AN ADULT FOR HELP!)
1. To make the house out of graham crackers you need four rectangular crackers and two square crackers.
2. Have an adult melt some sugar in a saucepan. This melted sugar will be the “glue” that holds your house together. CAUTION: This melted sugar is VERY HOT! It can burn you!
