Our home congregation has a tradition during Advent of hosting a time for families to construct ginger bread houses. The project doesn’t really involve ginger bread, but rather graham crackers. I don’t know the origins of the project, but it is popular enough that when we began working as Ministers of Faith Formation during the pandemic, there was enough talk about the tradition at meetings of the Faith Formation Board that the group decided to make kits for families to make and decorate the ginger bread houses at home. We then set up a zoom session for families to share their creations. We added a bit of Advent education to the home packets and tried to build additional information into the Zoom session.

The following year, the Faith Formation Board hosted a face to face event at the church for making and decorating the structures.

Part of the tradition was the use of half pint milk cartons as a bit of structure. Frosting was used to adhere the graham crackers to the sides and tops of the cartons in the shape of tiny houses. However, in the years we were involved, the Faith Formation Board decided that it was not a good idea to use cartons that had been used for food distribution. The possibility that they might have been poorly rinsed and that some sour milk might remain in the cartons seemed ill advised when we were being conscious of health and surface contamination during the national pandemic. Although the creations are not usually eaten, they are made of food and some of the decorations are eaten in the process of creating the houses. No cartons were distributed the first year although the instructions advised that families could use cartons if they had their own source.

Last year, when the Faith Formation Board was discussing what resources to assemble for the event, I suggested that I could make some simple structures out of foam core held together with hot glue. The group liked the idea and I made a supply of the tiny houses scaled to the size of graham crackers that were used at the event. This year, however, we are no longer serving as Interim Ministers of Faith Formation and are not involved in the Faith Formation Board. In casual conversation with a Faith Formation Board member, I was asked about how I made the houses. This member of the board has decided to use some cardboard that has been stored in the supply room to create simple templates for houses that can be constructed with a bit of tape or glue. It sounds to me like a good solution.

Ever since I was a child, milk has been mandated as part of school lunch programs. For a while when I was an elementary student we were served an additional half pint carton of milk in our classrooms during the afternoon. The health benefits of milk for children was taught in our classes and we were given a choice of chocolate or plain milk. I remember choosing chocolate.

However, schools are facing a shortfalls of the tiny cartons. The problem is not the supply of milk itself, but a shortage of the tiny cartons. One of the nation’s leading manufacturers of the packages, Pactiv Evergreen of Lake Forest, IL, has issued a statement that it “continues to face significantly higher than projected demand” for milk cartons. Apparently it isn’t only the half pint sizes of cartons that are in short supply. I have noticed in increase in the number of plastic bottles replacing paper cartons in the grocery store.

I’m not sure what has created the increased demand, but wonder if it is the increased use of the cartons for distributing water. For our anniversary party last summer, we purchased water in paper cartons as an alternative to the plastic waste of bottled water. The cartons are compostable and recyclable. The water we purchased has plastic spouts, but those are made of plant-based composite material that is compostable. I am not sure, however, how common water in paper cartons is and I do not know if that accounts for the shortage.

Whatever the cause, school officials in our state have been warned of coming shortages of milk in the tiny cartons. School officials have been instructed to become flexible in how they offer milk to children including providing milk using bulk dispensers in place of the cartons. The shortage of cartons would also affect the distribution of milk in hospitals, nursing homes and prisons. Those institutions have also been advised to make back-up plans.

I realized that the situation was at a crisis point when I read online that the Lake Stevens school district, down near Seattle, received no chocolate milk in last weeks delivery. The thought of schools with no chocolate milk changes how I think about school lunches entirely. In the article reporting about the lack of chocolate milk it was noted that the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has issued a memo allowing districts to skip serving milk during the supply shortage. In Everett, school officials have warned parents that the disruption in cafeteria milk supply could “range up to several months.”

I guess the use of empty cartons for the construction of gingerbread houses is soon to become a thing of the past.

I confess that I don’t understand the adherence to the tradition of making gingerbread houses in the first place. It isn’t part of my personal Advent preparations. I know that gingerbread houses are part of Christmas in popular culture, but I am unaware of any connection to the traditions of the church. Were it not a fully entrenched tradition in the church, I could easily forgo the creation of gingerbread houses in favor of a variety of other Advent crafts. Making Advent wreaths, for example, affords an opportunity to teach about the weeks of advent and gives families a resource for home observances. Making gifts for others is another way to celebrate Advent.

I am certain, however, that there will be an event to make Gingerbread houses at our church this Advent. I plan to use the fact that I am no longer an Interim Minister of Faith Formation as an excuse to skip the event. I can always point to the shortage of cartons as a reason to form new traditions.