On December 12 we hosted our annual gingerbread house decorating party. It started a couple of years ago, when Claire and Natalie were not quite 2 years old. Ryland was just about 9 months old and too little to participate, so it was just the girls.
December 13, 2008
All done!
Last year, we were all really busy and it was impossible to find a weekend that we could all get together. Ryland and Natalie ended up doing their own gingerbread decorating and Avery, Alexe, Claire, Jack and I worked on ours together. We had fun but we knew it would be a lot better if we could all get together.
December 13, 2009
Claire and her finished product!
This year, we planned early on so that everyone was able to make it to the party, and we opened it up to a couple of neighbors, which made it even more fun. The directions were simple: buy and assemble a gingerbread kit, mix your frosting and come ready to decorate! It is the one day a year that a mess in the house doesn't faze me in the least! We've come a long way since that first year and learned some good lessons. Namely, hot glue holds the houses together the best, though it does mean that we don't get to eat the house (um, who would want to eat it after those little fingers so...lovingly...decorated and touched every piece of candy?), lots of paper bowls are great for holding all of the decorations so that everyone can share, and a disposable table cloth is a necessity. And obviously, snacks, pizza and drinks are non-negotiables.
Ready, set, go!!
Claire and her best little neighborhood friend, Alexis
Taste-testing is optional, but strongly encouraged.
Since Jack does not like to get his hands dirty (no idea where that came from...) he was hesitant to get started.
We finally got him to put a few candies on! The nice straight rows were obviously not Jack's handiwork.
Avery may or may not have consumed her weight in little jawbreakers...
The kids filled baby food jars with reindeer food ingredients. Margot, our family elf, special-delivered the ingredients, straight from the North Pole, the morning of the party. Santa himself sent them! We're not quite sure, but it appeared to be magic oats and colored sugar.
The end results from the 2010 extravaganza. Jack's is on the left and Claire's is on the right, with the reindeer food in the background. I can only surmise that there was a murder on gingerbread lane, based on the gory pile of red sugar sprinkles.
I am so looking forward to this becoming a yearly tradition. The kids loved it and I'm pretty sure all of the moms and dads had a great time, too! Stay tuned for more Dunham Family Christmas posts!
No comments:
Post a Comment