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It’s not always easy having a birthday close to Christmas, but it’s been a day that most of my friends remembered as we grew up because of a birthday party tradition.

It started when I was very young. I’d invite a group of girls over and we’d decorate gingerbread houses. Mom made them all, an undertaking I still owe her gratitude for (especially because it’s her birthday too!)  She used a recipe for ginger snaps, mixing up big batches of dough and using her own template to cut out each side of of the house — two sides, a front, a back, and two pieces for the roof. She piped a bag of white icing that sealed the pieces together.

Once it was in the hands of the kids, anything could, and usually did happen. In the younger years there was a lot of sticking candy haphazardly all over the houses. Spread some frosting on the roof, then cover it with M&Ms or caramels. In those years, it was all about the candy. The houses were mounted on pieces of cardboard and spreading icing over them allowed for, well, even more candy. There were a few friends over the years who didn’t pretend to care about decorating, but tried to fill every inch of space with some form of sugar.

There were a few years when I had other kinds of parties, but my mother made gingerbread houses as part of a catering venture. She refined her skills, and the gingerbread houses included ponds of blue sugar crystals where deer, made of pretzel sticks and nuggets, grazed. Snowmen of white gumdrops wore red licorice string scarves. Gingerbread sleds carried presents made of Starburst candies with icing bows. A Hershey’s bar was broken into strips and Mom would write the family’s name on it as a nameplate.

When I was in high school, the birthday tradition was resurrected, and my teenage friends took a lot more care and put a lot more creativity into it. I would say that most of them put some thought into decorating and making nice designs, but one friend was known for making a gingerbread guillotine and decapitating her snowman. My brother put a gingerbread Tori Amos in front of a gingerbread piano.

The gingerbread tradition has died out in recent years. (I think Mom is waiting for grandkids until she makes gingerbread houses again). But each year when I hear from my old high school friends, they all remember the gingerbread houses, which I think made my birthday as special for them as it was for me.

Start the tradition for your own family with the recipes Mom used each year.

Gingersnaps (For houses)

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 tablespoon corn syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons each cinnmon, cloves and ginger

2 1/2 cups flour, mixed with 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Place butter and sugar in bowl. In small saucepan, bring water, corn syrup and spices to boil. Pour over butter and sugar; beat until well blended. Gradually stir in flour mixture until well blended and smooth. Wrap dough airtight. Chill overnight. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness for gingerbread houses. Bake at preheated 350 degree  oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges just begin to brown.

Royal Icing (gingerbread cement)

1 pound confectioner’s sugar

3 egg whites at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

In large bowl with mixer at low speed, beat all ingredients until blended. Beat at high speed 7 to 10  minutes until knife drawn through mixture leaves a path. Makes about 2 cups. Note: Because the icing dries very quickly, make each batch just before you are ready to use it.