Since about 85 B.C. my family has taken a night in December to make a Gingerbread Village. It has become a favorite tradition among all of us, and my mom has even roped in friends and neighbors to join along. Being in Utah this year for Christmas meant that I would need to take care of the Gingerbread Village tradition. First off, I realize that these houses are made of graham crackers, but we say gingerbread, I don't know why. I guess because they are wanna-be gingerbread houses. Whatever. Anyway, I knew that this tradition just wouldn't be the same if I didn't have a houseful so I decided to invite a family from our ward to make houses with us. The mom, Michelle, was the art teacher at Thomas Edison, where I taught music and her kids were students there. She is so much fun and her kids are as cute as can be. They were so excited to come and play and I was excited to have them!
They came over for Family Home Evening, so after a yummy dinner of homemade pizza we had a quick lesson and then started our creations. It is always so much fun to see the ideas that everybody comes up with.
I have discovered that it might take years for me to master the art of making Royal Frosting (aka glue) so it is a good thing that this is a tradition, I will get a lot of practice. In the meantime, I am grateful for cell phones because I think I called my mom about 10 times that night asking for tips and advice. "How warm do the eggs need to be?" "Do I use the whisk or the flat beater?" "What is the recipe?" "How many batches should I plan for?" For those of you that have ever made a gingerbread house, you can appreciate my stress because a batch of frosting will either make or break (literally) the evening. So, despite the fact that I am a novice, we had a lot of fun, made a huge mess, and only had one house collapse . . . mine!
Amber is in kindergarten and she is such a doll! I helped her with the walls of her house, but after that she was on her own. I was very impressed by her skills.
Jessica is about to start her second house and Logan is waiting patiently while Michelle works on his.
Behind that smile I am thinking, "Oh man, this frosting had better work!"
Hyrum was smart, he opted for the flat roof style house and he left his starbursts wrapped so he can eat them later!
Under construction . . .
William was our human vacuum. He walked around eating all the little pieces that fell on the floor. Can you say sugar high? In the picture he just tried a peppermint stick, it wasn't his favorite, but Michelle was!
The cute family displaying their masterpieces. They are such a great family!
Brooke finished her house fast so that she could hold the baby, which was great for me, I needed to tend to the frosting!
Brandon's Masterpiece. Notice his entryway, gate thingy. That is his point of pride.
The kids all thought that it was cool that my house fell, so I left it as is. Great, isn't it? I like the pretzels that Michelle found, they made a great fence.
Amber is in kindergarten and she is such a doll! I helped her with the walls of her house, but after that she was on her own. I was very impressed by her skills.
Jessica is about to start her second house and Logan is waiting patiently while Michelle works on his.
Behind that smile I am thinking, "Oh man, this frosting had better work!"
Hyrum was smart, he opted for the flat roof style house and he left his starbursts wrapped so he can eat them later!
Under construction . . .
William was our human vacuum. He walked around eating all the little pieces that fell on the floor. Can you say sugar high? In the picture he just tried a peppermint stick, it wasn't his favorite, but Michelle was!
The cute family displaying their masterpieces. They are such a great family!
Brooke finished her house fast so that she could hold the baby, which was great for me, I needed to tend to the frosting!
Brandon's Masterpiece. Notice his entryway, gate thingy. That is his point of pride.
The kids all thought that it was cool that my house fell, so I left it as is. Great, isn't it? I like the pretzels that Michelle found, they made a great fence.
