Gingerbread

It's done. That's what matters. Every year, in a great test to see how my patience has improved since the last, I commit to making a gingerbread house with Claire. Kyle is now three, so he also has joined the ranks of maker instead of just observer.

It started two nights ago when Claire asked if we could make the houses (yes, houses. This year I committed to making 5 "mini" houses! Stupid). I said that I would put them together, but that they had to sit overnight before we could decorate them. That was an unsatisfactory answer. She cried on and off for the rest of the evening for a cumulative total of at least 30 minutes. That was fun. Although I tried to explain over and over why they houses needed to sit so the 'glue' could dry, she just couldn't grasp it.

Once while i was off consoling her, Kyle found the stack of gingerbread pieces I had started to begin putting together. He came running to me with a piece in his mouth, "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" he taunted. I rescued that piece, but later realized that it was not the first piece he tried to eat. The back of one house was missing, so I improvised with cardboard.

So last night was the night we decorated. Not twenty seconds after we sat down (after the "never touch a single thing without asking first" lecture) Claire decided to pick of the bowl of nonpareils and dropped it on the floor. I know it was an accident, but it was SO hard to not be completely ticked off. I'd just told her not to touch anything, and she dumped the worst bowl possible. Why couldn't it have been the gum drops? So the tiny balls bounced and rolled all over my entire dining area. Probably more that an twelve foot radius looked like this picture, and it doesn't really do it justice. The worst part was that you can't really sweep them up well because they get all static-charged and just repel away from the broom. So that was fun. And took 20 minutes to clean up. I did my best to be nice (as it is my annual patience checkup) and we started again. The original plan was for Claire to do 4 and Kyle to do 1 house. Well, 90 minutes into it we had two houses down (It's hard when you have chubby little five-year-old hands.) So Claire made the two back left houses (Made means that I did the frosting and she put the candy on). And Kyle made the front left house in a like fashion. (I did the tiny balls around the door).

I finished up the others while Taylor was getting the kids ready for bed. I quit and didn't decorate the house edges. It just wasn't happening. The icicles barely happened. As for my patience, I hope I'm improving. (I'm usually really patient, just not when it comes to cooking with them.) I found that my kids were actually really great at smoothing the frosting for the roof tops (with a finger dipped in cornstarch they were great at patting it down, and they loved it.)

Next year I think we'll make the train. It's big and requires little fancy frosting work. I just can't frost a straight line.

Oh, and the cats ripped open the frosting bag and ate some. Princess (the white one) carried it in her mouth right past us and into their closet under the stairs. It was hilarious to see her run away with it---like she could keep it from us. It has resulted in some interesting tummies for them today. I think they'll be spending a lot of time in their little closet.