Gingerbread House Decorating

December 6, 2007

Samantha was invited to Grandma's house to decorate a gingerbread house with Karen MacPhail. Karen has been making and decorating gingerbread houses for years and now enjoys making them with her grandkids. Today she was nice enough to let Samantha have her first gingerbread decorating experience. Her grandchildren Sam and Lyndsay came along as well although they didn't decorate a house this time. The kids had a fabulous time together and Samantha made a beautiful house complete with a Santa in the window, the whole gingerbread family in the yard, and even a fence "to keep grandma in"! Thanks Karen, Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful time!

While Karen is setting up the gingerbread decorating,
Grandpa has to set up the car track which is a huge hit with all the kids.

Cheese! (Samantha is already too excited to see what Karen has in store for her!)

Samantha and Grandma get busy making a walkway out of almonds while Karen gets Lyndsay and Sam ready to decorate some gingerbread cookies.

Samantha is concentrating hard.

 
Samantha meticulously wipes the icing cement on her fingers with a wash cloth...
until Karen reveals to her the wonders of licking off the icing and eating it instead!

Red smartie, then green smartie, red, then green...
Sam has to show Grandma how to make the complicated pattern.

Lyndsay shows off her beautiful gingerbread candycane.

Sam is also proud of his creation.

Samantha uses her tongue to concentrate a bit harder.

Lyndsay continues to pile on the decorations while Sam moves on to making a marshmallow snowman.

Samantha also gets to decorate a gingerbread candycane and Grandpa tries to steal a few candies (any jellybeans?!)

Sammy sits back to admire her house while Karen makes a candy cane sleigh for the yard.

mmmmmmm! Time to eat!

Christopher is pleased to make the acquaintance of Lyndsay and her baby.

Back to decorating... it's time to add the roof to the house.

Christopher is quite amazed at Samantha's beautiful house.

The final product... complete with Samantha, Christopher, Mommy, Poppa, Grandma, Grandpa, Oma and Opa in the yard.

 
Ring around the rosey!... And they all fall down!

Time to do a bit of colouring.

 
Sam makes a colourful present and Lyndsay draws a picture and name that she printed at the top of the page.

Lyndsay and Christopher.

Pickles and cheese everybody!

Time for funny faces.

Samantha takes a turn with Christopher.

Samantha rides the Karen bus.

Samantha says bye and a big thank you to Karen for letting her decorate a gingerbread house.

After our friends are gone, Samantha plays chutes and ladders with Grandpa.

Christopher takes a snooze after all the excitement.

Samantha and Grandpa tackle the task of putting up the outdoor Christmas lights.

Grandma and Christopher supervise from indoors while Samantha supervises on the front porch.

Samantha does quality control on Grandpa's work.

Time to get Grandma's Christmas mail.

The sun sets on a busy day.