Catching the Gingerbread Man

By Katharine E. Harmon, January 8, 2026

In our house, we begin pulling out our Christmas decorations early in the Advent season.  Fine.  Judge me now. 

Now that we’ve moved beyond that for all you Christmas-tide sticklers out there, we can continue:  this year, among our boxes of battery-operated candles, Styrofoam snow people, and a wax-covered Advent wreath, lay a little tin of hand-made ornaments.  Our son had made them in his 5-year-old preschool room.  A little wooden reindeer with a red pom-pom nose.  A wreath made out of scraps of felt.  A sweetly-sharp-scented gingerbread man,  pierced by a shred of green plastic ribbon.

Our son eyed the ornaments with interest as the rest of us continued unpacking and reminiscing.  Suddenly, he asked, “Can I eat this?”

Eat what?  He held up the green ribbon—“This!”

I looked at his gingerbread man…or rather, most of the gingerbread man.  “Um, buddy, where did his arm go?” I asked nervously. 

My son’s face turned a little red.  He opened his mouth.  Yes.  There was the arm.  In his mouth. 

Now, we all put the proverbial appendage–usually a foot–in our mouth every once in a while.  Nothing a little mouthwash can’t take care of.  And, we all feel tempted to eat things we shouldn’t.  In fact, this seems to be an essential human problem: eating of things we should not.

But, unlike our first parents, our children look to us with inquisitive faces and ask: “Can I?” Which might really mean—I did this: but I feel it might be wrong.  What do I do now?

If we all felt this contrite after our sin, wouldn’t we be that much closer to our God who brought together heaven and earth once again this Christmas season?

Now, I don’t take my son’s curious munching as sinful—no malice there, just irresistibly-scented ginger.  And some glue.  But, our incessant need to take—to take time, to take credit, to take umbrage, to take advantage—or simply to take leave of our responsibility to love…this greed is not what God has designed.  God invites us to gratitude—thanksgiving, and delight.  God invites us to love.

So, if you find yourself munching on a year-old gingerbread man on a plastic cord, spit it out.  Seek richer fare.  Seek the Lord.  His light shines upon us.  And he tastes much better.