Thanksgiving Halloweevening

Each week we try to have one evening that we call Family Home Evening, and we do an activity as a family and have a fun snack.

Zoe refers to it as "Family Halloweevening". I could say she's profound in exalting our family time to a hallowed status, but I think she's more interested in having Halloween candy every week.

Well, this week, for Thanksgiving, we had Family Home Evening and continued my Thanksgiving tradition of making and delivering lots of gingerbread men. I started making gingerbread men when I was about 14 with a recipe that my brother John brought home from his kindergarten class. The recipe is written on a piece of cardstock, shaped like a gingerbread boy. I don't know who that kindergarten teacher was, but I'm sure she never guessed that nearly 20 years later, her recipe card is still getting frequent use!

Some years, I made only a single batch, and other years I made six batches...yielding hundreds of boy-shaped cookies to decorate and share. Some years I decorated alone, other years I had help.

This year the kiddos helped me stick M&M buttons on the cookies, and I used my piping bag to draw smiles and eyes. There was a bit of pushing and shoving, as well as a broken dish and a scuffle over M&M candies, and a time-out administered for the crime of hitting.

But then, as we delivered plates of cookies, Guy and Xander had big smiles. Guy let me know that when he makes other people happy, he feels happy too. He says he likes to be generous, and I say that's one of the things I like best about him.