Our eldest granddaughter Grace is a true traditionalist. She’s the reason we returned year after year to the same Strawberry patch and Pumpkin farm, the person who remembers that Charlotte always makes the fruit salad and she, Grace, always makes pumpkin bread on Christmas Eve. “It’s a tradition”. One of our longest standing traditions during the Christmas holidays is making Gingerbread houses at Gingerbread University. The custom began when Gracie was three years old and her parents hosted her December birthday party at Gingerbread U.  We’ve been taking Grace and her sister, Charlotte, to GU since Grace was five and Charlotte two years old. Claire and Isabel joined the fun in the year they each turned two. Some years my sweet sister Regina and her boys, T.Parry and Parker would make the 1.5 hour drive out from Nassau County. It’s a wonderful tradition that Timmy and I treasure and look forward to. In past years we’ve kicked off the holiday season on Thanksgiving weekend. This year we had to push the timeline back because we were traveling, and as a result, Gracie could not join us because she had a track meet. (On a Sunday? In December? Are you kidding me?) Needless to say, I was disappointed but sanguine about us all having a wonderful afternoon.

We fetched the love-bugs and arrived on time to find organized chaos awaiting us. The young women working at GU are super at taking orders, setting each family up and generally keeping things under control. We normally have at least two booths to spread out in,  but because we were only making three houses, we all crowded into one.

Isabel starts on top

Timmy lends a hand

Eating the icing as they work is an unconscious phenomenon

In this moment no one is happier than I am.

We were merrily working away on the houses when T.Parry and Parker arrived. The girls were delighted to see their cousins.

Charlotte and Parker grabbed a recently vacated booth and T. began helping Isabel with her house.

T. and Parker are so patient and loving with the girls…a true reflection of their mom.

We are amazed at the creativity exhibited.

Parker reminded us that last year Claire ate more than half her candy before she even began working on her house.

As we were finishing up, we were treated to a wonderful surprise…Gracie! My beautiful daughter-in-law, Gillian, drove her out from her track meet in Western Suffolk … all to keep the tradition alive. My heart overflows with gratitude to Gil. Here she is with Tim.

Gracie will decorate her house sometime before Christmas and I’ll add the pic to this post.  Here she is with her sister Charlotte. I love the closeness they share.

Gracie has not put the icing down since she arrived.

Masterpieces complete, we walked next door to the East End Bistro for  lunch.

East End Bistro is a lovely restaurant, it replaces the Lobster Roll…a North Fork mainstay that closed a few years ago. The staff is friendly and the food perfect for a late lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

Some pics while we waited.

Isabel took this pic of her Mac & Cheese…(wonder where she gets that talent from).

Lovebugs ordered “old school”

We laughed and reminisced about family gatherings; T. and Parker told Claire and Isabel about the “massive” Nerf  gun battles that were waged against their father and disclosed why they called him “Uncle Wiggy”… don’t ask.

I reflected in my last post about gratitude …and I’m feeling those same feelings again today. Grateful for Tim and these beautiful children that are in our lives. Grateful for all our family. Grateful for traditions.