Saturday, January 15, 2011
Sunday Sweethearts
Demise of the Confectionary Architectural Structure
One of the many fun things about having children is making new traditions and enjoying them year after year. In our family, the kids have come to love making the gingerbread house prior to Christmas. I always buy a boxed kit because I just don't have the talent to make the cake myself, nor do I care to experience having one or two walls fall apart and have to start over to bake a new one. So we stick with the tried and true Wilton gingerbread houses, known for their sturdy (read that "hard as rock") structural integrity.
After the kids decorate the house, we set it on the dining room table where the frosting is able to harden to the likeness of cement, and the house itself becomes a dust magnet. For some mysterious reason, my kids never touch the house. I always expect Jacob to snitch some candies off of it, but he never does. He'll sneak cupcakes out of the kitchen, but he won't touch the candy on the house! I don't think they ever noticed, but I ate most of the Smarties off the house before it January ever arrived!
Our tradition follows that after the first week in January, the kids may then demolish the house and eat of it whatever they want until Mom says "Time's Up!" and we throw the rest in the trash. I've learned that we must do this portion of the ritual outside, so we almost always wait until we have a nice, warmish day after the first of the year. I pick one child to do the honorary cake bashing with my meat hammer, and then I let them at it. This year Katie Mei had the privilege of being the Chosen One who smashed the cake. She also got to eat a few bits of candy off the roof prior to the demolition.
Let the festivities begin!
After the kids decorate the house, we set it on the dining room table where the frosting is able to harden to the likeness of cement, and the house itself becomes a dust magnet. For some mysterious reason, my kids never touch the house. I always expect Jacob to snitch some candies off of it, but he never does. He'll sneak cupcakes out of the kitchen, but he won't touch the candy on the house! I don't think they ever noticed, but I ate most of the Smarties off the house before it January ever arrived!
Our tradition follows that after the first week in January, the kids may then demolish the house and eat of it whatever they want until Mom says "Time's Up!" and we throw the rest in the trash. I've learned that we must do this portion of the ritual outside, so we almost always wait until we have a nice, warmish day after the first of the year. I pick one child to do the honorary cake bashing with my meat hammer, and then I let them at it. This year Katie Mei had the privilege of being the Chosen One who smashed the cake. She also got to eat a few bits of candy off the roof prior to the demolition.
Let the festivities begin!
A New Year
Happy Birthday, Jay! Our New Year's Baby had his 52nd birthday on the first of the year, and the kids and I had a little party for him. Katie Mei got the privilege of putting the "trick" candles on his cake, and Merrilee (who was in on the secret) just about peed her pants cracking up as Daddy tried so hard to blow them out.
The kids thought the relighting candles were the greatest new invention ever made for birthday trickery! It was more fun to watch them laughing than it was to see Jay pretending to huff and puff and blow them out over and over. All the soot left on the cake wasn't so cool, but the whole scene was pretty funny. It got quite smokey in the room with all the relighting and blowing out, so I was glad when the last candle finally was extinguished.
One of Jay's gifts was Wii Party, and the kids and I had a blast playing it later in the evening. Jay didn't enjoy quite as much as we did, but I do believe he has enjoyed his subscription to Netflix.
Happy birthday, Jay! We love you!
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