Worldschooling parents serve as hosts for the 2016 Gingerbread Festival

When Denielle and I  heard that the Mormon Trail Center (Omaha, NE) needed hosts for the 2016 Gingerbread Festival, we just had to volunteer.

Thousands of neighbors and friends will visit the month-long gingerbread festival where hundreds of gingerbread creations are on display. From Peter Pan to Star Wars, Nativity scenes to surf shacks, you will find that just about anything can be replicated using flour, sugar, and a whole lot of icing.  And who doesn’t like icing!

As hosts, Denielle and I welcomed and counted visitors. We conducted scavenger hunts for both children and adults. And, we celebrated with the return of scavenger hunters by handing out free candy canes.  The candy canes helped to keep the gingerbread displays from being eaten.  They were oh-so-tempting! The displays, that is.

“How much do we pay you?” A guest asked, as she walked in the door with her friend.

“Nothing!” I replied, after greeting her warmly.  “The event is free and it’s coordinated by volunteers like us. Even the gingerbread displays are donated by members of our twenty-four LDS congregations throughout Omaha as well as community and other religious organizations. It’s literally a community-wide event!”

Impressed, these two guests participated in the scavenger hunt, watched the #LIGHTtheWORLD video in one of the video rooms, and enjoyed socializing with members of their community.

“You sure know how to celebrate Christmas,” one of the two guests said an hour later.

As we served, greeted, and celebrated, I was reminded what CHRISTmas is all about: Christ’s love for us … with the icing of service on top.