Thursday 18 December 2014

The Gingerbread House


It's one of those things where, you don't realize you're starting a tradition, until the next time around, 'round about the same time of year.

Now, as Monk would say, "Here's what happened." Minus, of course, a vic and a perp and...wipes.

My six year-old niece got me on the phone a few weeks ago, reminding me of the gingerbread house she and I made "last year." I corrected her.
"It was two years ago, actually. Time flies."
"Oh. So, remember two years ago when we made that gingerbread house?"
"Yes?"
"Well, can we make a gingerbread house again this year?"
"Ummm...sure!!!"

Her mom and I worked out the details re best date and whose house and all that. The evening came. Durie (sis) and I showed up. We were looking forward to this. Kiki had made such a big deal about making the gingerbread house, her excitement was contagious. Which is not to say that we are great at craft! Minor detail.

As I recall, I might still have had one foot on the outside and one foot in the house when Kiki greeted us! "Yaaay! We're gonna make the gingerbread house!" A few seconds later, even as I tried to get a "Good evening" out of her, she ran off to the kitchen for the box. She squeezed in a hello. Then, seriously, within two minutes of our arrival, we were ushered into the kitchen. She pulled up the little kitchen step ladder to the counter and, being comfortable that she was now on par height-wise, she got to work. Sorta.

As it turns out, it was more of a...supervisory capacity? "We need to open this!" "We need to cut that." Lol! Thankfully, this house was already assembled. Not like the one last year that we had to put together using the icing as "mortar". That was a wise move on her mom's part. Saved us quite a bit of time. So, this was all about the decorations.

Since I was left holding the (icing) bag, I tried my best. At one point, not being comfortable with how rugged-looking the "snow" on the roof was, I decided to use the knife to flatten out the bumps and spread the icing a bit thinner. In horror, Kiki looked away and covered her face, "This is going to be the worst gingerbread house ever!!!" The child was so sure the house was gonna fall apart. Or something. We tried to control our laughter. I explained what I was doing, reassuring her that disaster had been averted.

I let her squeeze some of the icing and we eventually got to putting the colourful candies on the roof, the windows, and the door. Her mom and Durie joined in, too. Then, umm, Santa had an accident. He was supposed to occupy the prime position next to the door - according to the picture on the box. Well, he fell and suffered a few broken bones. I could see Kiki's face on the verge of a cry. We took turns. Before she could take it to heart, we assured her it was gonna be okay. We'd patch Santa up with the icing and, instead of standing on the "snow" next to the door, he'd just be lying on the "snow". Lol! I can laugh at that now. Lol! She was okay with that. Disaster averted. Again.

It mightn't have turned out to be the best looking gingerbread house ever! But, Kiki was happy and we were happy to do the project with her. A new Christmas tradition. Apparently. All being well, I doubt she's gonna skip next year. We got a few pics a couple of days later, showing her enjoying the door!

All in all, it was pretty sweet.

Gingerbread house 2012. Project: Assembling and decorating.

Gingerbread house 2014. Pre-assembled. Project: Decorating.



Claudia
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