gingerwood

We decorated our Wooden Gingerbread House last night. The concept of this is sheer brilliance. Jeff's parents came up with the idea years ago and used to make them and sell them for other people to decorate. It is wooden house that has holes in to light up the house. You decorate it and at the end of the year you wash it off and do it year after year. No gingerbread to make and watch collapse.

Here you can see Jeff putting the lights inside the house through the little holes.

We had lots of yummy treats.

We made the royal icing and let the girls go at it.
Here is the recipe for the icing.

This is the edible icing you need to make gingerbread houses stick together! You can use it on other edible baked decorations, too.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 medium egg whites
• 1 pound of powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar

PREPARATION:

Beat egg whites together until frothy. Mix or sift sugar and cream of tartar together, then add to egg whites and beat until stiff, 5 to 10 minutes.

This hardens, so don't make it until you're ready to use it and keep it covered while you work.

It was of course against my being to let the girls just go at it and throw stuff on there ( I may have to go decorate my own) but they all loved being able to do it themselves. Sally Jane liked to lick everything before putting it on. In fact my girlfriend came over today and all Caroline kept saying was, "look why I made!" She was so proud of her house.

Here is a -not so great - photo of it lit up. But you can get the idea. I love that Jeff did this as a kid and we will carry on the Tradition in our family. Stuff like this is better peanut butter and chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins!