Never fear. Nana had the grands over for a wild and seriously crazy evening of decorating gingerbread cookies. That is not an understatement.
For the past few years, I have decorated gingerbread houses with the grands. But this year, with 3 boys and 1 girl, six years old and younger, I thought gingerbread cookies would be much easier. I was right.
But we still made a big mess, gobbled too many decorations, and spread icing far and wide. One nice thing about decorating cookies instead of houses was that we could eat our work instead of letting it sit around and petrify into cement.
I’m not so sure the parents agreed. But like any good grandparents, we played, made memories, fed them too much sugar, and sent them home.
Here are a few photos from our Gingerbread Party. Notice the series when Gage decides he is GOING to have his plate and cookie (Nana had to decorate his, as he can’t eat cookies yet). Of course when we are all watching his actions, Donavyn chooses that moment to look at the camera instead of eating the icing and candy off of his gingerbread boy.
Tips:
1. Make the cookies in advance. Definitely. I used giant cookie cutters and made 1 girl and 3 boy cookies. The extra dough was used for normal cookies.
2. Sort candy into individual bowls. That way, each child gets the same things to put on their cookies. Or, I mean, the same amount of sugar to eat.
3. Give each child a cookie sheet as a workspace. Escaping candies and sticky knives stayed right where they needed to be.
4. Forget the fancy icing. Just buy a tub of white icing. It spreads so nice and easy. The icing in the gingerbread house kits is horrible and making a glaze icing that doesn’t spread is frustrating.
5. Enlist someone else to take photos. No way could this Nana help everyone, keep Gage from eating stuff, and take photos. Even with assistance, taking pictures of our completed cookies was the hardest part!
6. Have fun! Eventually we will get back to the houses. But for now, keeping it simple makes more sense. And next year, when we have 5, I think I will have to adopt yet another helper for crowd control.
Happy December traditions!
Source: 10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers
Thanks for the great tips! Sound advice, writers.
Source: Smorgasbord Health – Vitamin of the Week – Vitamin A – Beta-carotene
We love sweet potatoes! Boiled, mashed, and combined with a little bit of butter, sour cream, and cayenne. Tasty and spicy. Thanks, Sally.
Source: Cheesy Potato Casserole
These sound so yummy!
Does anyone recognize this?
It is absoutely necessary for a stove to work. Don’t ask me for a technical name, but this odd looking contraption plugs in somewhere inside the gas stove, and the flints mysteriously spark and make the gas stove click on. That would be the gas stove that cooks our meals. Not the gas insert that heats a home.
Notice the flint is broken.
Which means the stove is broken.
This piece is only about 1/8 of an inch wide and about 2 inches long. Despite that tiny size, if it doesn’t work, the stove doesn’t work.
Let’s say the flint plug (oh, I like that name) is the bridle that controls the Clydesdale stove.
It’s time for a new flint plug. Day 3 without and counting.
On the other hand, I have successfully poached my first ever chicken breasts for Thai salad and it was wonderful. Much faster than roasting.
Moving on to more stove top experiments.
Source: Memory Box
I love memory boxes!
Source: How to Beat the January Blues
Some good tips for turning those blue skies to beautiful skies! Thanks, Susie.
Today as I began 2016 by working on a deadline, I had plenty of help.
Too much help, in fact.
This one, Mabel, jumped up right after sister, Monet, left.
I sense a new year trend in my office.
What work? You are doing that?
Move? You want me to move?
Fine. I will sit over here. I’ll just watch my sister.
Mom, what is in the basket? Can I get in the basket? Let me chew on some things in the basket.
What book? You need this book? I’m sitting on it . . .
And so went the day. There have been times when my mind was so focused, I didn’t even see or hear the approaching kitty until she leapt in the middle of work. This was especially troublesome when her paws were wet and a touch muddy.
We have new S.O.P.
(standard operating procedures)
1. Be prepared at any moment to quickly and calmly gather all ready-to-mail papers in a pile and remove them from work counter.
2. Try very hard to hear the tiniest pitter patter of kitty claws on the wood floor. This will give warning of impending assistance on the work desk.
3. Give loves. This allows kitties to purr, shed fur, and roll around on paperwork. This also encourages kitties to vacate the project zone in a timely manner.
Paws up to 2016!
May your year be fulfilling, joyful, and overflowing with peace.
And may your clothes always bear fur from the administrations of 4-legged children. For that means you have provided a home to loving pets.
Happy New Year!
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Source: Yep
