Christmas Traditions, Oh My!

December is just a crazy month. It seems that no matter how well I plan I’m still swamped. I’m even feeling over booked this year and I’m not working full time. But nothing beats the year of the gingerbread men fiasco. Just thinking about it makes me cringe.

That school year, I had moved from teaching a classroom of 20 some odd students to teaching computers to 600 and some odd students. I loved the new job but could bear to give up my classroom Christmas traditions. I knew there was no way to buy or make apples, Christmas tree cakes, and cute Santa with Hershey Kisses for all 600+ students. But somehow I convinced myself I could make gingerbread men for them all. 

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My reasoning was something like this; I can make 20+ big gingerbread men in a night. If I just make them small, surely I can do it in a week.

 HA! Boy was I wrong. I baked and decorated small gingerbread men for weeks on end. Every night I after work I would “whip” up another batch of gingerbread men. While they were cooking, I would decorate the ones from the night before. My life became (you guessed it, gingerbread men.) I wanted to stop but I couldn’t because I had already started giving my classes gingerbread men. It would be a worse disaster to give some students gingerbread men and not the others. So the baking continued. 

At the end of this marathon baking session, I swore I never wanted to bake another gingerbread man in my life. It has been about 13 years. I haven’t made another one. However this year, I find myself thinking about it. This is especially so since I found a gluten free recipe for them. (I can’t do wheat.)

Here’s the link to the recipe. Are there any brave souls out there willing to give it a try? Let me know how it turns out. 

Or just share your favorite or not so favorite classroom Christmas traditions.