Nicole Lee and Jane Lee

The seniors construct their gingerbread houses.

It was a sunny day. The birds were chirping. The worms were wriggling. Four seniors were sitting in journalism, ready to make gingerbread houses. 

The atmosphere was perfect. As the seniors marched into class on Nov. 7 with their kits and candy, the juniors stared enviously. The juniors had forgetfully forgotten their gingerbread kits last class (amateur gingerbread house building behavior), so the competition had already been postponed once. Now, our plan to brutally take down the juniors was nonexistent. You know why? We didn’t need one — we already had enough talent and preparedness to win this competition and more. 

Animosity was palpable in the air as the two junior and senior teams looked at each other in determination. One of us was about to be the winner, and you’d best believe it wouldn’t  be the juniors. Isabelle rolled up her sleeves, Emma aggressively twirled gumdrops in her palm like a fortune teller foreseeing her win, Nicole cracked the gingerbread cookies into crisp rectangles and Divya chewed on a cluster of nerds while smiling menacingly at the naïve juniors. 

We called ourselves the dream team, and the dream team we were. By allocating different jobs to each person, we planned to optimize each other’s skills for the most favorable outcome: success. 

Video by Jane Lee

The juniors putting together their gingerbread house while the seniors relaxedly work together.

While Isabelle and Nicole finely iced each cookie panel, Divya and Emma employed their decorating skills to create stunning patterns using all sorts of candy, including gumdrops and Gobstoppers. Divya also used some Nerds to decorate, sprinkling a few into her mouth to keep her creative juices flowing.

Despite our extensive planning, the process proved difficult. For instance, we particularly struggled to tone down our skills so that the juniors wouldn’t feel bad about the immense gap in quality. It proved to be futile, as we just couldn’t resist showing our true potential.

Another challenge we faced was trying to keep our eyes off the complete dumpster fire of a mess to the left of us. As we peacefully worked together to focus on our colorful and beautiful creation, our ears were filled with the random screams of frustration erupting from the juniors’ table. 

For further indication of our victory, we needed only to look at the photographic evidence.

Here, we see the juniors’ desperation as they scramble to piece together their creation, while us seniors leisurely put together the most beautiful house known to mankind. 

But here was the final nail in the coffin: We exceeded expectations by representing the editor-in-chiefs, journalism advisor Michael Tyler and the Life section editors in our creation. This was done through four miniature chocolate elf figurines and one large chocolate Santa Claus figurine that we placed around the houses. Santa Claus represents the one and only Tyler, of course. 

However, we must warn you before you view our final product: Most risk blindness and fainting spells when their eyes and heart fail to fathom our beautiful beauty’s existence. But with that warning aside, without further ado, we presented our prize-winning, magnum opus of all gingerbread houses.

Side note: Tyler liked us more because we cleaned up our mess faster — clearly demonstrating our promise as a collaborative team to deliver results while maintaining a civilized station. We even finished writing our article faster and more efficiently. 

When we look back on history, there will be many Dream Teams that we celebrate. The ‘96 Chicago Bulls, the ‘16 Golden State Warriors, the ‘92 United States men’s Olympic basketball team, but it is time for another team to join this arsenal: The Class of 2025 Saratoga Falcon Gingerbread Champions. 

We have just one thing to say to the juniors: You’d better watch out; you’d better not cry; you’d better not pout; I’m telling you why: We are always two steps ahead.