Gingerbread House Production

Here they are, all finished.  I was so chuffed Grandma (or GG, you know depending upon who you may be) had put together three houses so I could make one too.  :o)  Well, Ellie and I at any rate.  (I'm sure you have NO idea which one I made...)

Grandma bakes the gingerbread pieces and glues them together with melted sugar.  She puts together popcorn balls for shrubs and trees and

gathers an assortment of candies (that are very difficult to resist, I might add!). 

Last year there were only these little A-frame guys.  I happen to love this little house and was more than happy to decorate it.  :o)

Grandma created a pattern and put together two more traditional houses this year as well.  The gingerbread is simply our ginger cookie recipe (meaning there were plenty of ginger cookies to nom upon as well). 

And here GG whips up the "snow" or "glue".  It's egg whites, powdered sugar and white vinegar. 

Ellie sat and nibbled on candy (if what she did could be called "nibble", that is) and watched the goings on.  She began to ask for emmies (M&M's for those not in the know) and reaching for our house.  She decorated one side and I did the others.  She's only 19 months old, her attention span is no match for the pull of candy canes and other sugary goodies.

Lil, meanwhile, had a plan and got right to work.  She was an old hand at this this year, having done it last year.  She knew where she wanted her snow and how she wanted to go about decorating. 

She worked hard and ate harder.  ;o)

I always think you can tell just how successful a day was based on the level of filth on your clothes.  The dirtier the clothing, the more fun you had.  :o)

Grandma had to whip up a second bowl of snow we used so much.  You have to use this stuff fairly quickly because it will set and crystalize if you aren't careful.

Brien fooled around with the candy canes and found you could make a very cute sign holder off the top.  (Like his VT?)

I Roy G Biv'd the heck out of mine (hey, those little Sweet Tarts lent themselves perfectly to being little rainbow twinkle lights!) and put in a Gummi Bear bonfire.  Ellie decorated this side of the roof.

Lil's was definitely the most colorful of the three.

Do you see the candies staring at you?  She intentionally made them so they would do just that.  Crazy kid.

Every gingerbread house I've ever seen Brien make has this little wreath.

Ellie's last addition to our house was the little grape quarter up there in the middle.  It's now looking like a shriveled raisin. 

My goodness we had a fun time!  I think GG enjoyed herself too.  I'm so glad she's around to do this with Bitty and Bean.  What wonderful memories they're going to have of time spent with their GG.

Here is the original page Grandma found for the houses.  Please note the sticky saying where Brien's, Jen's and Josh's houses were to go.  That changed every year.

And, here's the original recipe and template.  I do believe it is dated December-January 1976-1977.  This has been around awhile. 

And, the wax paper templates she uses.  I know making the gingerbread pieces, the glue and putting them together is a time consuming endeavor and I'm grateful to GG for doing it for us. 

As we made plans to leave Sunday morning, Grandma asked Lil if she could keep one of the houses to decorate her house.  Lil, of course, said, "Sure."  Grandma then asked which house Lil would like to leave for her and Lily said something along the lines of, "Well, why don't you keep mine?  I know how much you loved it so you can keep it."  What a sweet sweet girl. :o)

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Fisbee Watch

Have you guys seen Fisbee?  I can't seem to find him...

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Today's Sparklies:

1.  Ellie and I spent an hour out front cleaning up the front beds and pulling weeds.  It felt good to be outside working, and the front beds looks SO much better.  Now, if we could just get the weeds in the sidewalk to croak all would be perfect.  B has used Round Up on them and they're malingering.  ARG!

2.  Bathrooms, vacuuming, laundry and kitchen floors done today so I can work on cards and such tomorrow.  

3.  The mulling spices are simmering on the stove once more.  Mm. 

4.  Our daily text from Jori about Buddy's shenanigans.  :o)

5.  I read today.  For two whole hours.  Uninterrupted.  Oh sweet heaven.  

No milestones.