Wherein I Turn into the Evil Witch
January 3, 2009
I know I am tired of hearing about the gingerbread house.
This is how you keep it from falling apart while the icing hardens. I left it like that overnight.
The short version is we built a gingerbread house minus one integral piece. Made do. Stuck as much candy on it as possible. Then ate it. The children possibly putting themselves into diabetic comas.
The long version ,with photos, below the fold.
The method of decorating this year was slather the house with icing, throw the candy on, and see what sticks.
We had to prop up the one roof with some empty candy boxes.
Here they are posed and ready while I say, “On your mark… get set… GO!”
There aren’t many things better in the life of a just turned four year old than having free access to sweets the size of your head.
There is nothing left of the gingerbread house as of this afternoon. The younger children have been so wild that I have a new found sympathy and understanding for why the witch in Hansel and Gretel pushed children into the oven. Come to think of it, the older kids haven’t been a walk in the park today either. I might need a larger oven.
As I was standing here in kitchen typing this, Miles was “washing” dishes at the sink and picked up the squirter thingy and sprayed me in the back of the head. Oh little boy, you are not much bigger than our Christmas turkey….
Let the sugar detoxing begin!
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My nine year old daughter bobbled on her feet, saying : I cannot imagine having six brothers!” (She has two). “And no sisters!” (she has none). She wants to know if your daughter minds not having a sister?
My six year old wants to know, looking wild-eyed: “did they bounce all over the house from the sugar?!”
Me? I think it’s a simply gorgeous thing to do. I’ll have to seek out a celiac-friendly version …
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:20 pmi’m so jealous. i want a piece of sugared up gingerbread the size of my head tonight.
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:33 pmLOL gotta love the sugar high. Dev(15) still bounces off the walls.
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 pmI guess they were swinging from the chandeliers…too much sugar, but oh what beautiful memories…lucky you!
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:34 pmThat is a great family tradition to have, Sugar has a dramatic affect on my kids moods for sure! They get wild, then they crash and become totally grumpy!
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 pmI too never knew you only had one daughter. I’ve had four sons (3 living), and I can’t decide if I’m going to try again.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 pmI love the house. It’s great that you let the kids do it and didn’t try to make it perfect. I caught myself doing the latter, but I tried to resist it.
a family that eats sugar together sticks together
love the pics
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 pm~This is a good beginning he will never be asked by his wife to help her…and she will thank you forever!
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:35 pmAhh, nothing like having a little gingerbread with your candy and icing! Love Miles digging in with the Necco roof as big as his head. He looks like he is in heaven LOL. Maybe next year we will use more icing; we still have bare bits of gingerbread left that noone wants.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 pmYou are brave. I have not attempted that since I had my6th child, much less my7th.
Great memories for your kids, though.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:17 amI am so jealous of all the sugar they consumed. I love that you family has so many rich traditions - what joyous memories your kids will have!
January 4th, 2009 at 12:27 amBeautiful gingerbread house! Happy Birthday to Miles too! Will you be writing a ‘You’re 4yrs old’ letter to him? I used to love your letters to him that you wrote every few months when he was littler.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:32 amChris, I remember that you posted instructions to making this once before… Would you re-post the link? I may have to bite the bullet and try it (next year, of course). Thanks!
Chris says: Sure! I will dig it up. It really is SOOOO easy.
January 4th, 2009 at 5:18 amWe also have a post-Christmas gingerbread house tradition. We gave up trying to stuff it in before Christmas with all the other pre-Christmas activities years ago. Now we do them sometime after Christmas day, where it fits best, often with friends, and eat them Christmas Eve.
This year, I was so deathly ill, I really didn’t care if we made them or not, but bless my forever-a-child-at-heart husband, they were made (it’s his job anyway). He baked up the pieces the night before and the next day, I kid you not, he knocked out six houses (complete with stained glass and chimneys) and one cathedral in an hour.
Me? I’ve never baked a gingerbread house in my life. (Love decorating them, though!)
January 4th, 2009 at 7:51 amI don’t think mine (well the two I have ever made…) were edible. My gingerbread I am sure was not - the candies - oh YAY! What wonderful, yummy, coma inducing, memories
January 4th, 2009 at 8:56 amMy stomach aches just looking at that much sugar. But the memories you are making are so worth it. (Our gingerbread house was a bust this year, didn’t let the icing set and the whole thing collapsed at the first sugar gum drop.)
January 4th, 2009 at 12:01 pmWhoa! I was scrolling through the photos and completely thought that your second oldest was your oldest for a minute. He’s looking so old. It seems like every minute, someone is having a birthday. I can’t believe Miles is four!
January 4th, 2009 at 12:59 pmThe destruction, the destruuuuuuuction!!!!
January 4th, 2009 at 3:18 pmI’m the oldest of 4 girls and we always thought this process was too “dirty” to participate in! Man, how I wish I could back now…we were totally missing out!! : ) I may have to get all of us together and try again! We’re not that grown up yet! 26, 23, 16, and 12. : )
Chris, what kind of camera do you shoot with? : ) Your pictures are incredible.
January 4th, 2009 at 3:49 pmwhat was your method of stabilizing while it was drying?
I can see the milk cartons, but what is the white strap?
Doesn’t it stick in the icing?
Chris says: The white thing was masking tape. It peeled right off of the icing.
January 4th, 2009 at 4:53 pmI noticed that Miles ran around to the other side between photos…its been a while since I visited your blog. Nice to see the kids again, looking so grown up!
January 5th, 2009 at 2:52 amI nod with understanding at your witch-oven comment. Playing a game called “Loaded Questions” at a family Christmas gathering, one of the questions was “If you were ever convicted/imprisoned, what would be the crime?” to which I wrote down my gut response (might as well be honest, right?): “child abuse”.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:33 pmWhy did people think that was funny?
Because those people have no kids. YET.
My 2 year old just said, “I like dat house!”
January 6th, 2009 at 10:18 pm