“Run, run as fast you can
you can’t catch me,
I’m the gingerbread man.”*

Fine, but if my gingerbread man
cookie cutter really had to run off,
right before the holiday,
did he have to be a bad influence
on the three wise men
and take them too?

All gone off together, it seems
leaving me lacking for my usual
yield in the kitchen and
arrangement of the nativity scene.

For over a week now,
I’ve stooped low and stretch high
in cubby holes and upper shelves
since the tissue-lined boxes where
the creche was stored all year-long,
turned up loyal Mary, Joseph, and Jesus
and the rest of my precious collection,
but not the sagacious men.

And I’ve dug and tossed through
all my baking supply drawers,
peeked under tupperware
conferred with the aluminum angel
and bells cookie cutters for hints,
but no news on the little man
the star of certain sweets.

Four regulars of the rituals
in our aging house and family
have absconded.
Gone missing this Christmas
and it’s not the same now.

Is there a carol that goes
“If I were a Wise Man
I would hide out here?”

Perhaps like the children
who playing the important trio
at our church pageant on Sunday, tried to do
mine turned back at the last minute
and veered from their centre stage destiny
to make a premature exit.

Perhaps even Wise Men do get wary,
or weary, at performance time.
Or did they follow a false star?

I only wanted to stand them
gently on my living room bookshelf
alongside the manger as always.
Now it’s far Away from a Manger
they’ll be.

And my perfect gingerbread man cutter?
Well-loved, never neglected,
(well, except in all the other seasons
of the year).
I wonder if he got lonesome for a sweet partner
or developed an allergy to the thought of flour
he knew was going to dust his edges again.

So he thought
run, run as fast as one can
they can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.

It may be there’s just a pre-Christmas party
somewhere deep within the woodwork here
and they all accepted the invitations.

I don’t think I did anything
to offend these annual favourites,
but in any case, and it is a serious case,
these key players
for my festive preparations
are missing, and
it’s just not the same
without them.

One thing sure as Murphy’s Law —
the moment I break down
and buy understudy replacements
for them all,(never as fine as the originals)
they’ll surface somewhere
and then
they’d better see me coming
and run, run as fast they can...

12/20/2006

Author's Note: * refrain from the old children's tale, author unknown

Posted on 12/21/2006
Copyright © 2025 Maureen Glaude