(advent) Wednesday, December 18

“Molly, Molly, Molly, did you finish the castle yet?”  Lily shouted, as she, Schrodinger, Jack and Zoey piled into the kitchen.  Then she caught sight of her aunt and put the brakes on, causing a slight pile-up near the doorway.

 

Sitting on the island was the castle, still rising high from its board.  The towers weren’t all in place, but they were put together and scattered around to where Molly could grab them as she needed them.  Molly herself was working on one side, still building, and  didn’t look up from the line of icing she was slowly laying along one of the walls.  “Not yet,” she said, putting the bag down and picking up the tower she’d made earlier.  “One does not make a castle in a day, you know.”  She set the tower gently into place, and blew on the icing to encourage it to harden faster with a bit of her magic, wondering why she hadn’t thought to do that earlier.  It would have made things go much faster.  Then again, I don’t usually have this much gingerbread to put together, she mused wryly, rotating her head to stretch out her muscles.

 

“Wow,” Lily breathed, looking up at the structure.  “That’s amazing.”

 

“Thank you.”  Molly looked over the castle.  She had two more towers, and then the roof on the main hall to go.  “It’s almost done being put together.  Then comes the really hard part – decorating.”  She looked over at them.  “So, are you ready to help me today?  Or are you sick of gingerbread yet?”

 

Never! Jack said eagerly, wagging his tail.  We love gingerbread!

 

“Eating it is not on the menu today,” Molly told him, chuckling.  “We’ve still got a lot to put together!  Remember, the Snow Queen isn’t our only customer!”

 

“First we have to do the Advent Calendar,” Zoey said.  “And then, we can help!”  Lily nodded.

 

“Okay, you guys do that.  Or are you hungry?”  Molly grinned at them.  “Is that a silly question?”

 

“Yes,” Lily told her.  “We’re always hungry for your food!”

 

Molly laughed and went into the refrigerator to see what she had while they clustered around the Advent Calendar.   She pulled out some of the ham and cheese scones that she’d made earlier, and after a moment, added some sweet apple cranberry scones as well.  You know, I bet I could add the ham and cheese filling to the cranberry scone base and it would be divine, she mused to herself, as she put a container of butter on the plate and went back over to the counter.  I’ll have to remember that for another day.  One that isn’t consumed with gingerbread.

 

She assembled a tray and called over her shoulder, “Do you guys want tea, hot cider or cocoa?”

 

“Cider!” Zoey said, and there was a chorus of agreement from the others.  “Please.”

 

Molly put four mugs on the tray and reached for the ladle that she used to dish out the hot cider that steamed in a large pot on one of the back burners of the stove.  She ladled out the cider and picked the entire tray up just as Zoey shouted, “Oh, I found it!”

 

Number 18, it turned out, was hiding in one of the corners, peeking out around a curl of smoke from the chimney.  Zoey had to stand on her tiptoes to touch it, but her fingertip brushed against it, and the paint obediently crumbled.  As she stepped back, smoke oozed from the hole in the Advent Calendar and wrapped itself around the children.  No, not smoke….

 

“Snowflakes!” Lily shouted.  ”Look, it’s a whole stream of snowflakes!”

 

The snowflakes danced and floated around the kitchen, enveloping them all in the sharp scent of cold and peppermint.  Then the snow coalesced into four large snowflakes that hovered over Lily, Zoey, Jack and Schrodinger.  They all looked up as the snowflakes began to spin.

 

Then they changed, and everyone cheered as cloth fell down around them.  Lily and Zoey had bright red and green plaid aprons that dropped over their heads and settled around their middles, with matching chef’s hats settling on their heads.  Jack and Schrodinger didn’t get aprons, but they did get plaid muffin caps that dropped onto their heads.

 

“Now you really look ready to work!” Sue commented from the doorway, where she, Noemi and Lai were standing.  ”Do we get aprons too?”
“You do, but they’re not as stylish, I’m afraid,” Molly said, nudging them aside as she carried the tray out into the tea room.  Aunt Margie hadn’t minded the large chair being moved downstairs, so it had stayed.  Molly brought the tray over to that table, and as the kids clustered around her, she said, “You guys eat, and then I’m going to pair you up with Sue and Noemi to put together some of the gingerbread houses and decorate them.  Sound good?”

 

Sounds good!  Schrodinger agreed, and the others nodded.

 

“Good!”

 

While they ate, Molly went back into the kitchen and handed out aprons to the girls.  ”Okay, so here’s what we need to do,” she said.  ”Sue, Noemi, I need you guys to work with the kids and put together some of these gingerbread houses.”  She’d assembled trays earlier in the day when she’d called them and laid out her request.  With the Snow Queen’s castle taking so long, she’d realized she needed help, and they’d been happy to come along.  ”Here are the pieces you guys will need, plus royal icing.  You’ve both helped me put these together before, but I have the directions on each tray as well.”  She handed one tray to each of them.  ”Sue, you work with Zoey and Schrodinger, and Noemi, you work with Jack and Lily.  Sound good?”

 

They both nodded, and Lai said, “Let me guess.  I get to help you.”

 

Molly grinned.  ”What, don’t you want to work on the castle?”

 

“Do I have a choice?” Lai teased, then relented.  ”I’m game.”

 

“Good.”  Molly looked at them all and then took a deep breath.  ”Remind me next year that I don’t have as much time as I think I do?”

 

“We try,” Sue said, taking her tray.  ”You never listen.”

 

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Schrodinger snuggled up next to Zoey as they both listened to Sue explain what they were going to do.  He was used to the routine, as he’d seen Molly do it before in previous years, but he’d never gotten to actually help.

“So here’s what I was thinking,” Sue finished, laying everything out on their table.  Molly had taken two of the tables in the tea room for her helpers, laying brown paper across them to make a clean working surface, and then had brought out a folding table to put the finished houses onto to dry.  ”We’ll start by you reading us the directions, Schrodinger, and you holding the pieces in place, Zoey, and I’ll pipe the frosting.  Then in a bit, you and I can switch, Zoey.  Sound good?”

“Sounds good to me!” Zoey agreed eagerly.  ”How do we start?”

“Let’s get the first house pieces out, and then we’ll use this chair to hold the extras.”  Sue handed the directions to Schrodinger.  ”What do we need for the first house?”

He looked at the instructions.  Okay, there should be walls, roof pieces, base pieces and chimney pieces.  Molly says we need a base, four walls, two roof pieces and one chimney for each one.

“Four walls,” Sue said, handing them to Zoey.  ”One base.  Two roof pieces, and one chimney.”  Then she picked up the icing bag and peered at the base piece.  ”She’s so clever, Molly is.”

“What do you mean?” Zoey asked, looking at the base.

Sue pointed with the icing bag.  ”Look, she’s put indents in the base piece of gingerbread for where the walls are supposed to go.”

“Oh, that’s cool!”  Zoey picked up one of the wall pieces.  ”I’m ready!”

“What do we do, Schrodinger?” Sue asked.

Molly’s directions say to put down a line of frosting, then press the wall piece into it, he said, after a moment.  Sue did so, and Zoey pressed the gingerbread wall carefully into the frosting.  Hold it for a full minute, then put a line of frosting on the base for the next wall, and put a line of frosting along the side of the first piece.  Press the next wall into the first wall.

Slowly, methodically, they put the first house together.  Once they got the hang of it, it went faster, and the afternoon flew by.  Schrodinger was surprised when Sue brought their last house over and said, “Hey, Molly, we’re done!”

Molly appeared in the doorway and looked at them, blinking.  ”Really?”

“Us too,” Noemi said, placing a house on the table as well.  ”Do you have more pieces?”

“Not prepped, no,” Molly said, and then looked at the clock.  ”But it’s almost time to break anyways.  You guys have been at this for almost three hours!”

Zoey looked astonished.  ”Really?  It doesn’t feel like it!”

“Really.”  Molly grinned.  ”You guys have saved me a LOT of work, though!  Great job!  You guys will make a lot of people very happy!”

How’s the castle coming?  Schrodinger asked, jumping down.  Can we see it?

“Sure.”  Molly let them by and they all peered into the kitchen, where Lai was still leaning over the back of the castle.

It was amazing.  They’d finished putting it together and had gotten most of the decorations done as well.  Now, there was snow on the roof and sugar icicles hung from the eaves.  Frosting lights were piped along the roof’s edges, and around the windows.  In the front yard of the castle, there was a trio of snowmen holding a Christmas tree.  And on each of the towers was a festive wreath.

“Do you think she’ll like it?” Molly asked, when the silence stretched on.

“I think she’ll love it!” Lily said, awed.  ”How could she not?”

Lai stood up, put her icing bag down, and stretched.  ”Molly’s having anxiety issues again,” she said.  ”This is amazing, and she knows it.”

Molly blushed.  ”I wish I’d had longer,” she said.  ”I could have done a lot more.”

“Yeah, but that’s true of anything,” Sue pointed out.  ”This is a great job, Molly.”

“Thanks.”  Molly grinned at her friends.  ”And it’s thanks to you guys, for doing those other houses!”

“What are friends for?” Noemi said.

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.