“Time for bed, Nicola,” her mother called from the top of the stairs decorated with a garland. “The Christkind will be here soon.”
“Mom, I can’t go to bed now. I need to finish my gingerbread house before I go to sleep,” 12-year-old Nicola Claire said. She had been constructing the gingerbread house for hours, one piece at a time. It had to be ready for the Christkind’s arrival in only a few hours on Christmas Eve.
“Why do you always have to spoil my fun?” Nicola asked her mother. “I want the Christkind to see my hard work when she comes tonight. Such a pretty blond angel with wings!”
“Honey, you need to go to sleep for the big day tomorrow!” her mother said. “Now, run along! You did enough work on the gingerbread house for now.”
“Fine, ruin my whole Christmas by making me go to sleep before I’m finished,” Nicola said. “I wish I could just shrink and go live in the gingerbread house by myself.”
“Merry Christmas!” her mother called. “I know you don’t mean what you just said.”
Nicola never felt like her mother understood her. She always tried to be good enough, but it never seemed to be what her mother wanted. Her father had divorced her mother a few years ago, and sometimes, Nicola felt like she was invisible.
She ran into her bedroom, crawled under the covers, and waited a few minutes until she snuck back into the kitchen to finish the gingerbread house. Her mother could thank her later.
The set included pre-baked gingerbread and icing to make a two-story home. After all, she lived in Nuremberg, Germany, “the Gingerbread Capital of the World.” Also included in the kit were gingerbread men, shredded coconut, colorful beads, jelly hearts, mini jellies, spearmint leaves, candy canes, pinwheels, sugar wreaths, chocolate pretzels, gum balls, rock candy, peppermints, marshmallows, glazed nuts, chocolate bars, and spice drops.
She glued the gingerbread pieces together with the icing and placed candy pieces artistically on the house as a creative masterpiece. As soon as she finished the house, she planned to crawl back in bed, and her mother would never know that she spent a few more hours in the kitchen finishing her project. After all, she was rather sleepy from a hard week at school.
“I’d really like to live in there,” Nicola said with a yawn. “I wouldn’t have half the problems that I have with Mom and Dad if I had my own home.”
She placed her head on the table for a moment’s rest, closed her eyes for a second, which then became minutes until she was asleep. In her dream, her stature shrank, and she was as small as the gingerbread men in the kit.
“Curious!” she said. “My own little world! I always imagined what this would be like.”
She wandered through the rooms of the gingerbread home and enjoyed the sweet-smelling house. As she made her way to the living room with a peppermint fireplace, she stumbled upon a candy cane couch with matching chairs. She turned around to find a gingerbread man hanging a sugary wreath over the mantle. Large gumdrops served as side tables.
“My name is Cinnamon,” the cookie said. He had a white icing body, red candy bow, and jelly heart eyes. “Welcome to the Holiday Gingerbread House. I hope you will be able to find your way home by Christmas morning.”
“I’m not even sure how I got here in the first place,” Nicola said. “How do you expect me to find my way home? Where I live with Mom is rather lonely. I miss Dad.”
She sat down on the chocolate bar floor and shed hot tears, which melted part of it. She looked around to find herself completely alone. At first, she thought being completely alone would make everything better, but not really. In some ways, it only made it worse.
“I never thought I would miss my mom so much,” she said. “Now, I miss Dad and Mom, even if she is annoying.”
“I’ll tell you a secret,” Cinnamon whispered. “If you eat the Holiday Gingerbread House, it won’t exist, and you’re sure to be home.”
“Eat it? The whole thing?” Nicola asked. “How am I going to be able to fit this entire house in my stomach? It will hurt! I’ll have to take it a piece at a time.”
“With each piece, you will become bigger, and the house will become smaller and fit in your stomach,” he said. He placed a jug of milk on the table. Of course, Nicola would not be able to eat the Gingerbread House without milk.
Nicola’s stomach already felt full, but she really wanted to go home. So, she was willing to eat whatever she needed to eat.
“Take small bites,” Cinnamon said. “Enjoy the treat! And make sure you eat the house before any of the cats in the neighborhood find you. They would surely eat you and the house!”
“Cats? Oh, no!” Nicola said. “I must eat the house and return home. What was I thinking when I wanted to live in it by myself?”
So, Nicola set about eating the Holiday Gingerbread House one piece at a time—the roof, the chimney, the floor, the door, the windows, and the front porch. As she ate the home, she grew in stature and got bigger. When she looked at the house, it became smaller to her, little by little.
Although her stomach ached a bit, she mostly enjoyed the sugary home. She ate it like a big birthday cake. Once her mom made her an ice cream cake that was a train with extra icing. She loved every bit of it and wished she could eat like that each day. She knew her mother loved her, even if she had divorced her dad. All her parents did was fight anyhow, so it was better for them to live separate lives. It was just so disappointing when the holidays came.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cats as they prowled around her. They must have snuck into the house from the outside. The four-legged critters circled her and the house. She tried to hide, but it was impossible. She knew that they could most certainly smell her little-girl scent no matter where she went. So, she hurried to eat every last crumb of gingerbread, icing, and sugar. She just wanted to go home to her mom in time for Christmas.
“Mom! Dad! Help! The cats are going to get me,” Nicola said. “Where are you?”
The tricolored calico cats pounced right next to her and thankfully tried to eat the house instead of her. Their evil green eyes glowed, and their pupils dilated.
“Go away!” she said. “Shoo! My mom is waiting for me.”
The cats hissed at Nicola and spit on the ground. They scratched their claws into the gingerbread and bit the candy. She did not understand why they wanted to destroy the house.
“Leave me alone!” Nicola yelled at the felines. Several of them stretched their bodies and growled at her. They flattened their ears and tucked their tails between their legs.
As she quickly gobbled up the rest of the Gingerbread House, she grew several increments. Her stomach had never felt so full. As she grew taller, the cat shrunk, and their threat became less. They eventually darted off into the distance.
By the time she grew back into her real-life stature, Cinnamon was very tiny, and she picked him up to look at him. She wondered what she should do with him.
“Should I eat you, too?” Nicola asked. “I can’t possibly eat you! You’re my friend. I should be able to make it home without eating you.”
“Oh, my, I’m a gingerbread man,” Cinnamon said. “I was made to be eaten by a lovely girl like you!”
“Yes, but I would never want to hurt you,” she said. “You’re the one who helped me eat my way out of this mess. I would have never thought of eating the Holiday Gingerbread House as a way of returning home.”
“It’s what I was made for! I’d rather you eat me than anybody else,” Cinnamon said. “Merry Christmas!”
“Well, if you insist,” Nicola said. Then, she ate her gingerbread friend whole. She took a big drink of milk afterwards. He was even tastier than the house.
She awoke back at her kitchen table in her family’s home on Christmas Eve, far past midnight. Standing beside her was the Christkind, admiring the half-finished Holiday Gingerbread House that Nicola built before dozing off into a dream-like state. Her mother was nowhere to be found. She wished she had finished the house before the Christkind arrived.
“Merry Christmas! This is Cinnamon,” the Christkind said to Nicola. She was dressed in a gold and white flowing robe with a sparking crown. Her golden locks bounced on her fairy-like shoulders. “What a wonderful Holiday Gingerbread House that you’re making!”
Then, the Christkind handed her a stuffed gingerbread man as a Christmas gift. Although he was not a cookie, he was better. He would be her forever toy. She could hold him every night as she fell asleep. Then, she was not as much alone.
“I already love him,” she said. She held him at her chest and kissed him. “Thank you so much! Merry Christmas!”
Then, the Christkind unloaded a pile of presents from her golden sack under Nicola’s Christmas tree. The angel-like creature also filled the stockings for her and her mom that hung over her fireplace. After she enjoyed her own piece of gingerbread, the Christkind disappeared.
“Until next year, my dear,” the Christkind said, as she vanished. “Now be a good girl!”
“Merry Christmas!” Nicola called to her blond-haired friend with wings. Most children never got a chance to meet the Christkind. Nicola had only heard about her from her parents. She imagined that her angel-like friend appeared to her as an extra Christmas gift.
So, Nicola spent the next few hours finishing the Holiday Gingerbread House. She wanted to surprise her mother. It was hard to keep her eyes open, but she was determined not to fall asleep again. The Christkind had given her extra inspiration.
After completing the home, Nicola hurried back to bed and pulled up the covers. Not too long after she returned to bed, her mother rushed into her room and gave her a big hug.
“Merry Christmas!” her mother said. “Time to unwrap presents!”
“I have a special present for you!” Nicola said. She hoped her mom would not be angry that she stayed up too late.
“Wow, it’s finished!” her mother said. She stared at the Holiday Gingerbread House on the kitchen table. “You snuck out here while I was sleeping! Oh my, well, it’s Christmas! I love the gingerbread house.”
“I knew you would love it!” Nicola said. “Now, we can eat it together!”
After unwrapping presents under the Christmas tree, Nicola and her mother ate the Holiday Gingerbread House for breakfast. Cinnamon, her new best friend, sat on her lap.
“I’m so glad you got some rest last night. Some is better than none,” her mother said. “Dad wants you to come over to his house for dinner. So, I’ll drop you off later. I knew you would need some sleep.”
“Last night, I shrunk so small that I could walk through the Holiday Gingerbread House in my dream,” Nicola said. “But I missed you too much, so I had to come back to real life.”
“Oh, honey,” her mother said. “Merry Christmas! I love you.”
“I love you, too!” Nicola said. “I wish you and Dad were still together, but at least I’m not alone. I really don’t like being alone, especially at Christmas.”
“I understand, Nicola,” her mother said. “Your Holiday Gingerbread House is so tasty. You put so much work into it.”
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. As a gift, I got you after-school cooking classes, so you can learn to make all types of cookies and cakes,” her mother said. “I knew you’d have fun!”
“Oh, wow!” Nicola said. “Then, I can bake sweet treats for you and Dad.”
“And I have one more surprise!” her mother said. She walked into her bedroom and brought out a small cage with a calico cat. “I’ve been saving the best gift for last! I saw him at the pet store, and I knew he was meant for you!”
Unlike the cats in her dream, this kitty meowed and purred. He looked like a kind creature that wouldn’t even know how to growl.
“Wow! I love him! White, orange, and black patches. I’ll call him Patches,” Nicola said. She ran to the cage and threw open the door. She hugged him so tight to her chest. He licked her face. “He’s the best Christmas gift ever!”
It was by far the sweetest Christmas that Nicola ever had. So many great memories, all built around a Holiday Gingerbread House. Sugar and spice and all things nice!
Copyright 2016 Jennifer Waters
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