qualified as an architect after a gruelling seven and a half years. He's
also started work on restoring the Saxon church he bought. So that's what
I've made a model of St. Margaret's, Keddington.
Last year my gingerbread nativity came out a bit wonky as the gingerbread went soft
in our damp kitchen it soon started to sag. My Dad tried to restore it with wire and sticks, which kind of negates the point.
This year, with that in mind, the construction had RSJs in the form of...
candy canes melted together with a blow torch. That's not to say that there weren't
some major cock ups though. Like why do recipes measure golden syrup in tablespoons?
I also burnt myself considerably on making the stained glass windows. I couldn't get any boiled sweets in my village so I melted gummy bears in the microwave, which looked good but really burnt my fingers.
While making this gingerbread church I got to thinking about why so many people are sad at Christmas. I don't just mean people who spend the time alone. It is the busiest day of the year on the website for students with mental illness that I write. I think it is to do with pressure and expectation. There is an expectation on the day itself to be a success - this is why Dawn French
had to eat everyone's sprouts in The Vicar of Dibley. There is an expectation on us all to be happy and at peace with the world, which is not always possible, especially when you are fighting an evil disease that is working against this expectation. Plus you are with your family. Even if they are great, everyone wants to round up there year. It's competitive in so many ways, the food gets elaborate, the gifts might be expensive or homemade. When I was little I made all my decorations and cards and baked for hours and everyone was always impressed because
I was a child. Now it seems childish and the pressure on things like this gingerbread church
becomes overwhelming. I actually sat in the kitchen for an hour being too intimidated by these over-sized pieces of biscuit to assemble them. But I'm glad I did, if any SMILe readers have made there way here as they try to get through Christmas let me give you a tip - be childish, make the trimmings of previous years. It's far better to be childish than miserable.
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