GRACIOUS GEORGE THE GINGERBREAD MAN
Now they had been married for a long, long time and were as happy as they could be. But they were so different! Not only was one round and one skinny, but the wife loved to talk and the husband was a man of few words. The wife would bustle around doing all the household chores, but she wouldn't dream of doing yard work. The husband quietly went on his way taking care of the garden, yard, and the outside of the house, but he sure wasn't one to do the dishes!
One thing they did have in common that kept them both happy, was the fact that she love to cook and he loved to eat. She loved to work in the kitchen preparing all sorts of scrumptious dishes. But baking desserts was her specialty. Pies, cakes, cookies,brownies, all sorts of savory goodies!
This morning the little round lady was in the mood to bake something special. Not just your every-day special, but something really unique and delicious.
She sat down at the table to plan what it would be. She looked through all of her cookbooks until she found exactly what she was looking for. She smiled to herself, " I know, I'll make a gingerbread man." And that is exactly what she did.
With a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye, she mixed the dough for this special of special treats. She floured the breadboard and her rolling pin so the dough wouldn't stick, then rolled the dough to just the right thickness. It had to be just right because if it was too thin it would burn, and if it was too thick it wouldn't bake all the way through.
She looked in her cupboard to see what she could decorate him with. She used raisins for his eyes, lifesavers for his buttons, and cut a cherry into a thin strip for his mouth, turning each end up into smile. She finished decorating him and gave a sigh of relief. Yes, he did look quite gracious. He was going to be a very special gingerbread man, don't you know.
He was the most original gingerbread man she had ever seen. She looked at him and thought to herself, "Good gracious, he is a handsome gingerbread man! By George, I bet there isn't another one quite like him anywhere." Then she chuckled quietly, thinking, "I'll name him George the gracious gingerbread man! A special name for a special treat." Then with a flourish, she popped him in the oven to bake.
While "George" was baking she sang and cleaned up her kitchen. She washed the dishes, wiped the table, and generally tidied up.
The time rang so she peeked into the oven to see if "George" was done. Well, he was done all right. When she opened the oven door he gave her a quick wink! She was so astonished that she opened the door wider to see if she really saw what she thought she saw. With a jaunty little skip "George hopped out of the oven, across the kitchen floor, and out the back door.
" Good gracious George, come back here!" she cried and ran after him. But George was outside and on his way singing loudly, "Run, run as fast as you can, but you can't catch me I'm gracious George the gingerbread man."
His first stop was through the garden. The man of the house had almost all of the weeds out of the garden, but as you know, weeding is very strenuous work. He had one row of weeding left to do, but he was so exhausted that he stopped to take a nap under the tree planning on finishing when he awoke. George saw that this man needed a little help, so as quick as a wink he weeded the last row.
The skiny man woke up and saw him, and in surprise he joined his wife chasing the gingerbread man. But George just laughed and said in a loud voice, "Run, run as fast as you can. Cause you can't catch me, I'm gracious George the gingerbread man!"
The gingerbread man ran past a little girl. She had her tricycle with her but she wasn't riding it. The tricycle was upside down in the middle of the path and she was sitting right beside it crying and holding her knee. As quick as a wink he put on a Band-Aid and gave her knee a kiss.. Now George may have been fresh from the oven but even he knew that you heal faster with a kiss!
"Please don't leave, I haven't thanked you!" said the little girl as George hopped up and ran away. She joined the others chasing the gingerbread man. With kindness in his heart, the gingerbread man cried out, "Run, run as fast as you can. Cause you can't catch me, I'm Gracious George the gingerbread man. I'm running away from a sweet little lady and a nice little man, and I sure can run away from you- you bet I can!"
And I guess he was right, because tray as they might, the little round lady, the little skinny man, and the little girl were not able to catch him. And gracious George the gingerbread man ran on.
As he was running, George heard a dog bark. He looked up ahead and saw that a big dog had chased a boy up a tree. Now George didn't know if they had leash laws around here to keep the dogs with their owners, but if they did, this dog certainly didn't have one on. How could he help this boy- that dog was real big. All George could do was try, that boy was very frightened.
As quick as a wink he got as close as he dared, waved his arms, and jumped up and down to get the dogs attention. When the dog spun around, George ran as fast as he could with the dog behind him. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see the boy climb out of the tree and join the little round woman, the little thin man, and the little girl. They all ran after him, and the little boy was yelling, "You've been so kind, don't leave until I thank you!"
But being kind was what George was all about. So he laughed and ran and they could hear him as he said, "Run, run, as fast as you can. Cause you can't catch me, I'm gracious George the gingerbread man. I'm running from a sweet little lady and a nice little man and a little girl too- and I can sure run away from you!' Gracious George ducked under a bush and kept on running.
Up ahead was a house with a lot of activity going on. Kids were playing outside and having a good time and the mother was sitting on the front step singing a lullaby quietly, as she rocked her baby to sleep in her arms. George decided he could hide here for awhile.
He jumped over the windowsill and found himself in the front room. He sat down to rest when he noticed that someone left their shoes beside the couch. Even George, who hadn't been around very long knew that shoes belonged in the closet not in the front room. As quick as a wink, he picked the shoes up, observing that they were on the very large size, he figured they belonged to the father so he put them in the master bedroom closet.
On the way out of the bedroom, George passed the bathroom. Although George had eyed made of raisins, he could tell that the last person to bathe had not rinsed out the tub. As quick as a wink, he grabbed the cleanser and a rag and scrubbed the tub.
When he strolled past the kitchen he smelled something good to eat. Dinner must be in the oven and he wondered what it was. He went in to take a peek and found meat loaf and baked potatoes slowly cooking in the oven. He knew this family was going to have a fine dinner tonight. When he turned around he saw the kitchen sink conspicuously full of dirty dishes. Well, the mother must have had her hands full today and just not been able to get them done.
As quick as a wink he had the sink full of soapy water and had all the dishes washed, dried, and put away. Just in time too. He heard the car door shut as the mother greeted the father as he came home from work.
The family came into the house. The father went to the bedroom take off his tie and saw his shoes sitting on the floor of the closet. He remembered he had left his shoes in the front room and he wondered who had been kind enough to pick up after him. Well, whoever it was, he really must thank them.
The teenage son went into the bathroom to wash his hands, and if the truth were known, to also scrub out the tub. He had to leave early for school that morning and just ran out of time. But he did want to clean it before someone else bathed because he knew that it wasn't fun to bathe in a dirty tub. But surprise! The tub was so clean it sparkled. who did this for him? He wanted to thank this special person.
The mother put the baby down and went to the kitchen to set the table for dinner. Everything should be ready to eat, and everyone was so hungry. She opened the cupboard and the dishes just sparkled. She gasped in surprise as she realized that she had left the dirty dishes in the sink and now they were stacked neatly in the cupboard!
Her noise brought the whole family into the kitchen. To their amazement, a gingerbread man with a smile on his face, leaped from behind the chair and out the kitchen window. Now they knew who had done all of the good-hearted things for each of them!
All together they ran out of the bak door, and whom do you think they met? Why, the other people who were running after the gingerbread man of course.
He was far ahead of them because he knew that he had to be careful not to be caught, because half the fun of helping people was doing it because it made you feel good, not because you wanted them to thank you.
He ran happily along with everyone in hot pursuit after him. With a smile on his face he was shouting "Run, run as fast as you can. Cause you can't catch me, I'm Gracious George the gingerbread man. I'm full of kindness and full of pep and you can't catch me if I watch my step.
I'm planning on doing nice things far and wide, because I serve others with lots of pride. I'm running away from a sweet little lady and nice little man, a little girl and a young boy too, and I can sure run way from you!" And Gracious George skipped merrily along hunting for more people to be kind to.
Well, we had a few Gracious people running around our house after that F.H.E. lesson from our sweet little daughters. If you found Gracious George leaning against something that was done for you you get to pass on a kind act.
When I saw this one it warmed my heart. Brit rarely spends her money. She a saver but for some reason when she laid eyes on this nutcracker she had to have it. She bought it with a big smiled stretched across her face. Within a few days it broke and she was devastated! Some gracious little someone fixed it for her.
Bree's room got vacuumed!
My kitchen drawer was organized!
Beds were made. I'm sure there were many more kind acts that went unnoticed by me but I'm grateful for each one of you and the kind service you shared!
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