Gingerbread Frenzy....

Every year I totally drop the "blogging" ball around the first part of December.....

I swore that it wouldn't happen this year, and it did....Ughhhh....

So now I am going to do my best to capture the last few weeks....

While spending Thanksgiving in Mesa, I came across the most darling of all cake

pans....a gingerbread house. It is a bundt pan, and the hole on the bundt forms the

most perfect chimney on the little house. I thought it would

be great fun to invite all of the nieces and nephews over...

..in shifts of course....so that they could each decorate their

own little houses. Well, this is the thing about the darling children in this family....

they are SUGAR CHALLENGED. An opportunity to work with unlimited candy, is

just a dream come true for them. We began with the older girl cousins...

the cheer squad....I baked the cakes...The Lovlies arrived and the decorating began.



The next group were the "middle" cousins. They are pictured above...and they were the most

creative with loading as much candy as physically possible on each of their little houses.

Some even loaded the chimney full of candy...to be enjoyed at a later time;)


One of the Lovely older girl cousins left this tender note in front of her gingerbread house,

that had already been partially dismantled, by other small couisns who could

not pass by with out a little taste. My favorite part is how she began the note with PLEASE,

before she called them bratts. Oh, she is a keeper!



In the midst of the gingerbread frenzy, PreShie decided that she would like to construct

a very large house, of her own design. I had to leave town for a few days, and when I returned,

She had built this "model" of what she would like to build. We went to one of the local

bakery's that is owned by some friends of ours, and PreShie did her best to explain how she

wanted it made. Since gingerbread houses are not common in our part of the world.....it was

a bit of work to help the friends understand. But finally everyone understood, and sheets of

dough, used to make the beloved "Marrano" or pig cookie that is a part of the culture here

in Mexico. It is a molasses type cookie and is a very hard cookie so the dough was perfect

for this type of project.

It stands around 18 inches high, and 12 inches wide. The house has been build, and the

decorating has begun. I love projects like this.....it will keep her busy for the rest of the

holiday vacation....HORRAY!

This sweet gingerbread house has been a part of our holiday decorations since

The Darlings were very little. The Farmer purchased it for me at a time when it was a sacrifice

to spend the money on something that seemed so un-necessary. It has become

the heart of our holidays. All of our children are represented, even the ones that are not with

us right now (the little gingerbread people). It lights up and plays the song,

Away In The Manger. Oh how we love that gingerbread house!