"Though *I have not seen him, I love him. Though I do not now see him, I believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of my faith, the salvation of my soul." I Peter 1:8-9
(*replaced all occurrences of "you" with "I.")
Three years ago, Mary Grace asked if we could build a gingerbread house. Wanting to get the fun mom award for once, I agreed. Never having attempted it, we googled how to do it. We found an amazing video that we've been known to watch just for fun because we love the gentle "you can do this and it is so much fun" manner of the lady, India Gaylean, - and we love her beautiful hair. She is thorough and convincing, and she makes an adorable house from scratch, all the while keeping her kitchen immaculate. It's irresistible.
We made a great house that first year, and we did enjoy it so much that we made one last year, and we built #3 this past week. A possible suggestion we might make to her instructions would be to keep your dough in the refrigerator as much as possible, even during the process. Cold dough is sooo much easier to work with. And we also baked ours on parchment paper, which made transferring to the cooling rack effortless.
In the video, India also describes royal icing, which is the "glue" that holds your house together. What amazing stuff it is. It works like a charm. This whole process is time consuming and messy, but it really is so much fun! And, I get to watch Mary Grace's creativity ooze from every pore as she brings her house to life.
Our house this year is our most structurally challenged.
Royal Icing saved the day.
Gummy orange slices make perfect shutters
Decorating was part of our Classical Conversations Christmas celebration
Mary Grace built a chimney out of round pretzels.
I thought this was so clever.
You HAVE to have gum drops on a gingerbread house
Annie, Mary Grace and Grace
Will vanHoornbeek used twizzlers and pretzels to make a sheep pen
Shaun Evans' frosted mini wheat roof!
Another way to use the frosted mini wheats
A rice crispy treat molded into a Christmas tree
and trimmed. Mary Grace saw this technique
on a cooking show.
Pretzel rods = logs
Mary Grace's 2011 Gingerbread house
Classical Conversations of Bolivar
This tradition is only three years old at our house, but I think it's one we'll keep.
Can't wait to see it in person! Woohoo! Love this "new" tradition.
ReplyDelete-Hannah
The pretzel rods are clever. I liked the frosted mini wheat roof too...sort of natural looking. Great job Mary.
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