The Saturday before Christmas we set out making a gingerbread village.
I covered the kitchen table in butcher paper, and we all filled dishes with a plethora of candy while Wayne made a perfect batch of royal icing. Everyone got a plate and were told....
The rules:
1. Be creative
2. Eat only YOUR house
3. Eat YOUR house whenever you want
4. Have FUN!
Wesley heard "candy" and was totally on board!
Wesley is sure that the set up is taking too long...bring on the candy and crackers!
So far Wesley has kept Rules 1, 2 & 3...Bravo!!!
Trouble is brewing as Wesley eyes Caroline waving her candy as she explains her design plans.
Caroline defends her house well, but Wesley moves over to Grace who's house is in a more advanced stage of completion. Grace is quick to note that Wesley is clearly in violation of Rule 2....
So, Wesley was banished to his highchair with his tee-pee to munch on while the rest of the crew constructed a delicious gingerbread village...
Successful gingerbread house construction is dependent on strong royal icing. We found that Alton Brown's recipe worked perfectly, so the recipe is now in our family cookbook.
Five faces of sweet success....
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12 comments:
What a fun activity! Looks like your kids had a ball.
You forgot to show my abandoned gingerbread house with all the walls collapsed and candy strewn about.
You are a fun mom!
Aww, that looks so deliciously fun! Making gingerbread houses was the one activity I decided to skip this season (something had to go) so I'm glad your 5 could build for our 5 by proxy. Loved the story told in pictures.
What a fun and memorable activity! I think we'll give it a go next year. Thanks for sharing the icing recipe--love that Alton Brown!
I love this tradition--we always used to do it in our family growing up. But that is the ONE thing we just didn't get to this year, probably sacrificed by my glitter party:( This year mom made gingerbread Star trees---so cute and so easy with graduated star sizes...I think we'll give that a whirl next year and make a gingerbread forest:) Great photos!
That looks like such a fun thing to do but I don't think we'd make it past just getting out the building materials yet. Love your photo documentary!
So funny, I love the pictures too!
Hope you had a Merry Christmas! ♥ Hugs :) Shauna
what fun! I think I need to add that to my list for next year. There wasn't enough fun this year and I SWEAR that next year will be better!
This year I made gingerbread trees. I used star cookie cutters from 5" down to 1" and stacked the cookies, rotating each layer. I also put a small 3/4" circle cookie between each lay, to look like a trunk - don't think it made them better, just taller. I've also found that if you have your egg whites at room temp. they whip up better.
Looks like the kids had fun. Where are Mom and Dad's creations???
mom....
Maybe we'll add trees next year....sounds fun.
I usually don't make a house...I was taking pics and helping out & Wayne was helping the kids as well. Wayne's abandoned house (or pre-construction phase) is on a plate in front of Wesley in the "G is or Gingerbread Village" photo.
In a perfect world, we'd have cookie cutters made using the spec's from your gingerbread house recipe and plan. Those were the best!
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