Gingerbread adventures

This should actually be titled,

LOOSING MY COOL AND SWEARING IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN.

Ah, gingerbread - I have such a love/hate relationship with it.

Let me start by saying it has been a very full couple of weeks at the oven.  Grown kids arriving, LOTS of cooking, baking, cleaning up from the afor mentioned, and oh yes, sinus surgery for Alec the day after Christmas.  That wasn't a fun recovery for him, so I took my soup making, tea brewing, medicating (him not me...), and gauze changing duties very seriously.  He was excused from the gingerbread extravaganza, and we decided not to have a competition this year.  You know, keep things friendly and fun.  I made the gingerbread pieces  the day before, and when we were ready to begin I realized that I had somehow forgotten to bake off backs to the houses.

Awesome.

Isabelle tries to make the best out of her backless house.

I piped my designs on the house pieces before attempting the construction phase.

Teddy was excited to get in on the fun since he spent last Christmas in Bahrain.

Brooke was in charge of one of the houses and worked with Teddy and Isabelle.  Genevieve was my faithful assistant.

Ever try to put a roof on a backless gingerbread house?

Both houses folded like a deck of cards...

I don't have a picture of my disaster, because I was far too busy 

SWEARING IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN.

Sigh.

I hung up my piping bags, poured a glass of wine, and waited for Mr. Enchanted to get home from work and see if he could manage a resurrection from the ashes with construction adhesive.  

Here are the happy results:

My FAVORITE element of either of the houses was the doughnut hole - cereal hat wearing - green eyed - pretzel stick armed snowman.  LOVED IT!

And I was beyond thrilled to see my shabby chic backless cottage standing!

Fab photo done by my son Drew and his new camera!

Cookie snowman by me and doughnut hole shrubbery and trees by Genevieve.

Cotton candy smoke coming out of the chimney.

Hard work is rewarded when seeing the house lit from the inside!

Love the crushed and melted candy windows.

I am so glad I only have to face this once a year...

Sharing with
Pink Saturday
Feathered Nest Friday
The Charm of Home

The gingerbread house throw down

We decided to have a little competition of the gingerbread variety.

This afternoon the competitors warily gathered, talked trash, and  gave each other the stink eye.

Team number one:  Drew and Genevieve

See the intensity in their eyes?

Team number two:  the D and Isabelle.

They actually went to the store and brought their own supply of candy.  AND had a plan worked out ahead of time.

Team number three:  Alec and Brooke.

In it to win it.

Something I should mention about this crew- they are competitive.  Understatement.

The pressure was UNBELIEVABLE, even causing some friction among team members.

Surgical gloves -  really?

The candy was flying.  I kept the icing coming and offered help when needed.  Nellie the dog ate any candy that was dropped to the floor.  She's good like that.

As the afternoon wore on, tensions and mess increased minute by minute.  Team one contested team two's trip to the grocery store to purchase additional candy.  Team three had a bit friction - one a perfectionist and one a bit of a gingerbread slacker.   Team one had a member take off his surgical gloves and throw in the towel when the going got tough.

As a certain level of frustration was reached it was time to bring out the big guns.

Construction adhesive.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Don't judge.

I give you the finished products.  Team number one and the Hannukah house.

With a menorah on the side.

And a star of David on the other side.

Team number two and cabin in the woods.

A most impressive architectural feat.  The roof and side did not even have a gingerbread base.  The sides were completely made of pretzels and royal icing and the roof was made with chocolate.

There were dormers on the side, ice cream cone trees, window boxes, and are you ready for this?

A stone pond filled with blue jello water and goldfish cracker koi.


Team number three crafted a traditional Christmas house straight from the North Pole complete with a spice drop wreath.

Can you see the tiny little strand of Christmas lights above the eves?  Unbelievable patience by Brooke adhering the light bulb sprinkles one by one.

Check out the perfect roof, grass covered snow, and icicles.  Santa would love it.

The teams made windows out of melted sugar and crushed candies.  Here is how they looked all lit up.

Team one and Hannukah house!

Team number two and cabin in the woods!

Team number three and Christmas house!

Mr. Enchanted was the official judge of this gingerbread extravaganza.  When he walked in the door from work, he was in the unfortunate  LUCKY position of declaring a winner.

And this is how he called it:  in third place
HANNUKA HOUSE!


Second place
CHRISTMAS HOUSE!


And that made our winner,
CABIN IN THE WOODS!


Congratulations to the gingerbread genius of the D and Isabelle.  All I can say is WOW!

The jello pond and dormer windows put them over the top.

They were very gracious and humble champions *cough*.