Chapter 8, The Advent Workshop
While Zack and Kimi cherished special moments together on Christmas eve, this particular year things were different. Their most cherished moment was at Zack's church's annual Advent workshop. An event that would be held on the afternoon of the first Sunday in Advent in the basement of his church, where long tables would be set up, and kids of all ages could come downstairs and make various arts and crafts, to either decorate their homes with for the holidays, or to give as Christmas gifts. The Christmas gift option was the one chosen by Zack and Kimi that year, as neither one of them had even thought about going shopping to buy one another a gift.
There were all sorts of arts and crafts that people could make, from baking gingerbread cookies, to making candy canes and wreeths out of beads and pipe cleaners, to even making stain glass windows out of colorful pieces of waxed paper to hang on the windows at home.
Zack decided on the stain glass window option, creating a beautiful window with a picture of a butterfly to give to Kimi, while Kimi wasted no time, and decided to make an ornament for Zack to hang on his Christmas tree. Her ornament would be made out of different colored material wrapped around a styrerfoam ball. However, she not only made this for Zack to enjoy, but she knew his aunt would like it too, as she'd be able to enjoy this ornament on her tree, with its many tactile textures the different soft materials would present.
While the two crossed paths several times at the advent workshop, they hardly said a word to one another, until their special gifts were finished. Right before it was time for the workshop to conclude, the lady in charge let everyone know that they'd allow the kids to make one last batch of gingerbread cookies, before people started packing up. Zack and Kimi wasted no time. They agreed to do this activity together, and kept their promises. They sat down next to one another at the table, and each grabbed cookie cutters from the center, while Paula, who was in charge of this project, brought around the gingerbread dough. Kimi and Zack made their gingerbread people, and got started decorating them. Kimi decorated hers with some yellow frosting for hair, red hots for eyes, craisens for buttons, and some white frosting on the rest, while Zack decorated his with some chocolate frosting for hair, raisens for eyes, chocolate chips for buttons, and some pink frosting.
Once their gingerbread people were decorated, Paula put them into the oven for ten minutes, and after they came out and were cool enough to eat, they were handed to Zack and Kimi.
Kimi then picked up her gingerbread person, and handed it to Zack, who just stared in shock.
"But wait Kimi, this is yours. You made it, shouldn't you eat it?" Zack asked.
"Uh uh, I made it for you! Look, I made you. See the blond hair? And the craisens? I know how much you like them." Said Kimi as she blushed a smile at Zack.
Zack just blushed and smiled, as he took the gingerbread person from Kimi, and took a bite.
"Mmmm! Delicious!" Said Zack after swallowing his first bite.
Then, he looked at his spot on the table and realized his gingerbread person that resembled Kimi was still sitting there. He picked it up and handed it to her.
"Here you go Kimi, I made this for you. Well, originally for me, but since you gave me yours, it wouldn't be fair for you to be gingerbread less, so, here you go." Said Zack, as he handed his gingerbread person over to Kimi.
"Thanks Zachary!" Exclaimed Kimi, as she took a bite out of the head.
"Mmmm! Chocolate frosting! I love it!" Said Kimi after she swallowed her first bite.
They sat in silence, as they smiled at one another, and slowly enjoyed their gingerbread cookies they had made for one another, while Celeste and Kira, who were helping out at this event, along with the other volunteers, got things cleaned up from the advent workshop, as the workshop had long since officially ended by this point.
A few weeks later at the Christmas party, which was being hosted at the Carmichaels, as while Betty got the baby in her piece of fruit cake the previous year, making the Devilles host the Christmas party, two years in a row, after what the poor Carmichaels had to go through on New Years Eve last year, ending the year on a sour note, with a death in their family, they felt they could use a little bit of Christmas cheer that year, as it was especially hard for Lucy, seeing it was her first Christmas without aunt T to liven up the holiday. When it was time for the gift exchange, Zack and Kimi presented each other with the gifts they had made several weeks back at the Advent Workshop.
"Oh wow! A butterfly!" Exclaimed Kimi, as she finished opening her gift to stare down at the stain glass window that sat before her.
"Actually Kimi, it's a stain glass window, that you can hang on any window in your house, and make the room even more beautiful." Said Zack.
"Cool!" Exclaimed Kimi, as she handed her gift to Zack, at which he opened.
Upon opening up the tactile Christmas ball, he looked up at Kimi and smiled.
"Wow! A Christmas ornament that both, my aunt and I can enjoy together! Thanks Kimi." Said Zack.
"You're welcome. I had a lot of fun making my gift for you at the Advent workshop. If anything, it made the gift seem more special when I made it myself, oppose to buying it with my allowance." Kimi replied.
"You know what Kimi? I felt the same way when making your stain glass window." Zack added.
And so, they agreed to make gifts for one another the following year at the Advent workshop, as they found making gifts for one another was more meaningful than buying gifts. However, while they could have hung their presents in their own homes, on the small Christmas tree that Zack and his aunt had decorated their apartment with, and on Kimi's bedroom window, instead, they decided to put their gifts on the Christmas tree and window at the Java Lava.
"Why are you hanging that stain glass window here Kimi?" Kira asked her daughter, as Kimi stood on a stool with her mother watching so she wouldn't fall, and hung her gift.
Once she was done hanging it up, she climbed down and faced her mother.
"So Zack and I can enjoy our gift together." Kimi replied, as she and Kira turned to see that Zack was hanging his ornament on the Christmas tree they had put up in the Java Lava that holiday season.
"And my ornament will be here, so Kimi and I can enjoy it together." Said Zack, as he hung it on the tree.
"You know Kira, I find it so precious how our kids, mine being my nephew and yours being your daughter, have found the Christmas spirit, every year we've known one another." Said Celeste, who was sitting at a table, sipping on some hot chocolate.
"I agree, it is great, and only makes the holidays feel even more special." Said Kira with a smile, as she headed to the back to refill the bin up front with more straws, as it was running low.
Zack and Kimi however, were looking at the tree where Zack's ornament was hanging, and at Kimi's stain glass window, then at one another, as they smiled, and silently enjoyed one another's company, on Christmas eve, as they sat in the Java Lava, watching the sunset.
And this, ends chapter 8.
Author's Note: The idea to have the Advent Workshop is something I took from my own childhood. After I moved to Massachusetts, my church I attended would do the Advent workshop on the first Sunday in Advent, and the arts and crafts that were made and available to make at Zack and Kimi's were also at the ones I went to when I was little. I tended to make my stuff as ornaments to decorate the Christmas tree with at home, rather than gifts for other people, except of course for my gingerbread cookie, which was my snack that afternoon, but it was something I really enjoyed growing up, and I thought I'd share a personal Christmas experience in this story. And what's funny, I had more or less, forgotten about the Advent workshops until I was trying to think up ideas for chapters for this story, and the memories of the good times I use to have at them, came flowing back. Not sure if my church still does them, but if they do, and my nephew is still around here when he's old enough to participate in them, I hope he too, can have the same fun I use to have. And come to think of it, whether they do them or not, I may have to get the pipe cleaners and beads to make wreeths and candy canes with him someday, as well as the ready made gingerbread dough and stuff for decorations, so he and I can make gingerbread cookies together when he's older, as gosh, I can't remember the last time I made those. They were so much fun! While my nephew's grown a lot since he was born, he's only 2, and still a little young to be doing all of that stuff. Now I'm longing for the day when he's old enough for us to do that stuff together, only I know when it gets here, I'll miss his toddler years. Either way, we'll never win, but I'll always treasure the memories. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be back with another chapter shortly. And oh yes, Paula, the gingerbread baking lady, is my OC.