Well, we're one week into December and we've already done quite a bit of Christmas stuff. LOVE it! At the Ward Christmas Party the kids had the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap - and as in past years, our kids were not happy about it. Emma was nervous and didn't want to do it at first, but in the end did tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas (Hannah Montana makeup... what?! She's never even seen Hannah Montana... does that mean that we have to get it for her, since that's the one thing she told Santa she wants?). Becca screamed while on Santa's lap, but I insisted on a picture anyway, because everyone loves a good freaking out on Santa's lap pic right? :) After leaving Santa, however, Becca waved and said "bye". Weird.
Ben had the day off on Saturday so we had a lazy morning playing Rock Band and making/eating cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were really delicious, however, they didn't hardly rise the second time around. I rolled them with their filling and sliced them up and put them in the pan and they were supposed to double in size in about 45 minutes before baking them. However, they hardly did at all - so they ended up more dense in texture than they should have been. I've been having bad luck lately with yeasted products. I made some dinner rolls a few weeks back and they didn't hardly rise the second time around either (the first rise works great, though). Anyway- any suggestions or ideas? The yeast was new (and both from different store purchases), so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. ho hum. Well, around lunch time we headed to IKEA to do some preliminary Christmas shopping. We hadn't even started on the kids yet (Ben and I however are all done with each other - it was easy this year... we bought ourselves a new and very comfortable mattress!... so practical and yet so rewarding!). In the evening we made a gingerbread house (a graham cracker house, rather). Can you believe this was the first time I remember doing this? Mom, did we ever do a gingerbread house when we
were little? It really felt like this was the first time and it was so fun! Do people actually eat the things when they are done? It sure doesn't look like something I'd want to eat... with all our fingers all touching it and after sitting out for the night it's all hard and crusty. But it looks cute! Word of advice: don't use Honey Graham brand crackers when doing this - they are too flaky and easily broken - I'd recommend using a store brand instead as they are usually much more firm. A lot of people must be making graham cracker houses because when I went to Walmart yesterday to buy some, the store brand was completely sold out. Annoying! Oh, and in the slideshow there's a random picture of my belly next to our creation - Ben thought we should take a picture of the baby with the house - so that he would know he was there too. :)Lastly, I have to post a couple of these pictures I took recently. Emma and Becca have been really teaming up together lately and being mischievous and silly. See below... :)
Those gingerbread houses look awesome! I haven't made one in years!
ReplyDeleteI was scared of Santa as a kid too. He's more lovable from a distance!
ReplyDeleteI've done the same thing with roll making. Believe me, it's always the yeast! When you activate it with warm water and sugar; look to see if it's foaming a lot! If it's only foaming a little, you're going to have trouble.
It might help to sift your flour beforehand too.
In answer to your question; NO, we never did any gingerbread houses at home. I did do one with Sarah once at a Y.W. activity, but I never did those at home. We always made sugar cookies and decorated those for a project. The gingerbread house seemed a bit difficult and messy and it didn't appeal to me at the time.
We did take you to things like the festival of trees where lots of ginger-houses were on display. We LOOKED at tons of them, but we didn't make them. Sorry.
I loved all the pictures; everyone looks absolutely great!!
You guys do the funnest activities. I love the pilgrim and
ReplyDeleteIndian pictures. I laughed so hard at the Santa picture. My boys didn't cry but Briggs looked like a deer in headlights, also he wouldn't touch Santa, he held his arms out and wouldn't out them down. silly kid
oh sorry this is Valerie by the way...I didn't' realize I was logged into Brandon's.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I got the biggest kick out of Emma's request. What a funny girl! Unless she asks for it again, I'd say skip the makeup. I remember in second grade that in my letter to Santa I asked for barbies (even though I had no use for them at all) just because everyone else was. When I got some Christmas morning, I was pretty disappointed. Then again, maybe she's secretly hoping that Santa remembers the Hannah Montana makeup. Hard to tell, I guess. :)
ReplyDeleteWell you had to do it, take the girls to see Santa and make them cry! :)
ReplyDeleteGinger Bread houses are fun and can be edible, we made one at a Ward Christmas party, it was a contest to see who could make the best one, well ours kept falling apart. It was the icing, not sticky enough.
As part of a game at this years Bishopric party we were asked for the most popular ginger bread candy components. Gum drops topped the list but the one item that baffled me was M&M's, did you use M&M's?
Dad - no, we didn't use M&M's, but we used skittles - we also used red hots, red vines, good and fruity's, gumdrops, and coconut (for snow!). I say any candy is good! yum! :)
ReplyDeleteahh! Becca's face is so cute. It's so sad yet so cute.
ReplyDeleteI read this CNN article and immediately thought of your blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/12/scared.of.santa/index.html?iref=newssearch