The tree sparkled like the snow outside. Each light, each ornament, each pine needle glistened in the fireplace light. A sense of giving and cheer was in the air.
Amongst all the Christmas joy, a girl named Holly sat near the fire. She watched as each snowflake fell, examining every one of them as much as she could through the window.
The snow fell heavy. That meant she would have to stay inside today, but she was okay with that. After all, today she was planning on making gingerbread cookies.
She strolled away from the fire slowly and into the kitchen. Holly got out all the ingredients she needed and mixed them together. Finally, all the ingredients were equally distributed in the batter and it was time to shape them into little gingerbread men.
Gingerbread men… she let the thought linger in her mind for a couple of seconds. It sank into her brain. Why weren’t there gingerbread girls? Well, maybe there were, and she just didn’t know about them.
At any rate, she had decided whether they existed or not, she was going to make one. She was going to make it look just like her.
Holly found herself looking at each and every cookie to make sure they were all perfectly in line. Most of them were just the basic gingerbread man shape of the cookie cutter, all but one. It was a gingerbread girl with an adorable little bow and a skirt.
She put the cookies in the oven. Meanwhile, she prepared the icing to frost the cookies and got out a few little candies that she could use for certain features like the buttons or the nose.
In a few short minutes, the cookies were done and ready to go. Holly did all the gingerbread men first and saved the gingerbread girl for last. She always was one to get everything else done and over with, so that she could save the best for last, and that she did.
When she finally got to her favorite cookie of the batch, she started out by using the icing to give her eyes and a smile. Next, she used a chocolate chip for the nose. She then piped out some long
straight hair, just like hers. She couldn’t forget to line the skirt and bow in pink icing.
Lastly, for some extra sparkle, she added some little pearl-like candies all around the cookie to really make it shimmer.
Holly thought the gingerbread girl turned out absolutely perfect. She held it in her hand and pretended to sprinkle something on it. She imagined she was sprinkling Christmas magic on it.
She gazed at the cookie and something amazing happened that made her
think she really did sprinkle Christmas magic onto the cookie. The cookie’s nose started to wriggle, and its toes started to wiggle!
Then suddenly, it’s smile grew larger and larger. The cookie stood up and started to dance to the Christmas music Holly was playing while she made the cookies! She couldn’t believe her eyes. Holly had never seen anything like this before, but little did Holly know, the most shocking thing was yet to come.
The gingerbread girl opened her mouth wide and spoke! “Hi, I’m Noelle. What’s your name?” she said in a friendly tone. Still awestruck from the previous events, Holly responded calmly, “Oh, I’m Holly. Nice to meet
you.” Then, she shook the cookie’s little hand as if she were a person.
After they introduced themselves to each other, Holly decided to ask Noelle if she wanted to have a cup of hot cocoa. She said yes and the two drank their cups and talked all the while.
Each of them had different stories to tell about Christmas time with their families. Holly was surprised when she found out that gingerbread cookies even had families. After that, they watched a Christmas movie and made paper snowflakes. Then, they wrapped Christmas gifts and sang carols.
Day after day, night after night, they hung out together and participated in many of the festivities that the holidays had to offer. They became the best of friends and lived happily in Holly’s warm and toasty house, always keeping each other company, and spending every Christmas together.
