Christmas Party
During Christmastime 2004, we went to a Christmas Party with our Bible study group, where we built a gingerbread village together. In preparation, we decided to build a gingerbread church, from scratch.
Not only did we build our gingerbread church from scratch, but we also made stained glass windows (I know, we must be crazy). We discovered that we could "install" stained glass windows by means of crushed up Lifesavers. How symbolic.
This is our pastor, Ray, who is, incidentally, also from Illinois. He even graduated from the University of Illinois in Biology, just like Tracy. Here Ray dries the frosting holding his gingerbread house together, using a hair dryer. Hmmmm...I'm not sure he'll appreciate this photo.
This is a 'before' picture of our village, complete with green rice krispie treat trees and bushes, made by Scott and Tracy, the overachievers.
Katie works on her family's gingerbread house, a tennis pro shop. Sunny (Katie's father) is a tennis instructor at the Pro Club here in Redmond.
Redmond, Washington is the biking capital of the Pacific Northwest. That being said, probably half of our church is involved in biking, with Ray being one of the most avid bikers. So this is his family's gingerbread creation, a bike shop.
Scott is a very modest man, not much for grandiosity, but with a passion for writing and reading. So here is his gingerbread house, a humble bookstore. We've discussed opening our own local bookstore in Winter Park, Colorado. Perhaps one day...
A rice krispie tree, with a pet shop in the background
No gingerbread village is complete until it has a fire department.
Sunny and Lisa enjoy the delicious holiday food. They have been a wonderful blessing to us both as we began our new life together in Washington.
This is the finished church that we built. Maybe someday, God-willing, Mountain Ridge Community Church will have it's own building, too.
Lisa creates the pathway leading to the church. Our inspiration was from John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
You might be wondering if the stained glass windows we made actually worked when light shone through them. Well, they did! Here is a picture, with a candle inside the church. It was brighter in real life, but you get the idea.
A gingerbread village bonfire...doesn't it just make you want to snuggle up with a book from Scott's bookstore?
Our gingerbread village creation