Last weekend we did the drive to NYC to see my younger brother and his wife. It was such a fun day of seeing the sights! The only thing missing was my parents who know the city like the back of their hand and my older brother and his family! In the future we might have to do it again with the whole gang.  New York City at Christmas is so magical.

We didn’t tell the boys where we were going or that we would see Tina and Graham. We got them into the car super early and drove. As we drove in we pointed out the Statue of Liberty. (Jackson has had a fascination with it for yrs) He was so excited when he spotted it. I asked him where we were on our adventure and he squealed excitedly “France!!!) Last he had heard we had seen the one in Paris so he was so confused. He was so excited to find out we were in NYC.

NYC is a crazy city to do with kids in many ways but the people watching alone kept them entertained most of the day. The city was having their Santa bar hop while we were in town from 10 AM on so we saw hundreds of people dressed like Santa and elves, festive costumes, etc…Jackson spotted this gingerbread man as we began the day. A city filled with people in costume was kind of a kids dream.

FAO Schwartz was a highlight of the day! FYI if you have a stroller you can skip the line and head in the back door! I remember going as a child so it was fun to take the boys. Owen slept through lots of it but Jackson enjoyed it so much! We were all kind of amazed by the giant candy section.

I tried to talk the boys into adopting a baby at the pretend baby nursery

After a quick lunch we stopped by my cousins new bar in Brooklyn. It’s called Exley if any of you are ever in Brooklyn you should check them out!  They have done a great job with the space that used to be an old garage. The boys enjoyed ginger ale so no worries!

we left Brooklyn and headed to Central Park where the boys ran and played and we watched a street performer doing bubbles and then there was a big bird spotting.

we finished the day with a walk through Times Square (rather a push and shove through, it was packed! ). I’ll spare you the naked cowboy pics since this is family friendly. Once we survived Times Square we grabbed dinner and exchanged Christmas gifts. We got dessert at a little bakery called Amy’s Bread. I highly recommend it!   Not one thing didn’t look yummy!

We said our goodbyes and loaded up the kids to head back. We stopped over near Philly for the night and met friends for lunch in Wilmington on our way back. It was a whirlwind trip but so fun.

You know on here I am huge on having people in your home and building relationships. My friend Ashley’s mom comes to mind when I think about entertaining and having an open house!  Ginger and her hubby have people in and out of their home ALL of the time. There is always a bag of chips and homemade salsa on hand and people are typically discussing the next meal! Because they are amazing cooks and love to gather around a great meal! I haven’t been to Ginger’s house in probably 10 years at least but I know it’s still the same.

As I was thinking through holiday activities and things to share with all of you I thought of Ashley and her family and wondered if I could talk her into sharing a bit about their gingerbread house party tradition. Now, like Lisa from the last post, these gals are in Texas so they do it up big.

One of my favorite times building up to Christmas is my family’s
tradition of making gingerbread houses.  As far back as I can
remember, my mom had made the dough (as did her mother), rolled it
out, cut it into little pieces, and baked the pieces for assembly day.
We could much easier go out and buy the kits, but the process of
actually making the houses has been a fun memory of mine.

I think I was 4 when I remember (only by seeing pictures in old photo
albums) my mom starting this tradition passed on from my grandmother.
Mom did one house for our family for a long time, but my mom wanted
more and more families to enjoy the joy of “art” of making their own
house.  This year (2012), my mom and I rolled out 20 (!) gingerbread
houses.  Mom made the dough and I was her workhorse for the rolling
and cutting the next day.  We started rolling and cutting around 9am
and carried on until about 4 in the afternoon so that everyone we had
invited would have their own house to do.  Turns out my little family
took up 3 of the houses this year.  Landon (12), Riley (6) got to do
their own houses and I had to do mine myself (or I would have taken
over the boys’ houses)! OK, it was mine and my husband’s house, but he
graciously let me have all the fun 😉

On assembly day, I got to my mom’s house around 8 in the morning to
help set up.  My grandmother, aunt and Mom were already hard at work
in the kitchen making the “glue” for the houses.  Mom has a recipe for
Royal Icing she uses to glue the houses together and for all the candy
to stick on, as well.  While the icing is being whipped to oblivion
(it’s gotta be STIFF– think DQ Blizzard thick), we are setting up
more candy than you can imagine!  A few bowl on every table leaves
just enough room for the actual houses to be decorated!  Our guests
arrive around 10 and the fun really starts!  There are always people
who have not assembled a house before, so we help get them started,
but from there, it’s just icing and candy flying around for the next 4
hours.  It’s literally a SWEET time:) 

We try and get pictures of everyone before they leave with their completed houses and it’s so
much fun to look back every year and see how the houses have
progressed.

I could go on and on about the houses, but I’d rather Kristen share
with you our pictures!  Hope you enjoy!  Merry Christmas!

Thanks  for sharing, Ashley! I should be sending my boys down for gingerbread house school with you and your mom next year!  I might just have to try my hand at making some homemade next year. I do love me a good kit but this looks like so much fun!  Another friend mentioned doing gingerbread nativities so that might make the list next year too!

For those of you that find yourselves bored this weekend (this is kind of a joke because I don’t know anyone who isn’t packed with activities) before Christmas and your house does not yet have a little fragrant gingerbread house roll up your sleeves and give it a try! Don’t be intimidated! The walls might fall in and your hands will be sticky but it will be a good time!    And you don’t need 50 kinds of candy although they look divine, start slow and small. Pull out graham crackers if you don’t want to bake!

For you brave folks, Ashley has shared the family recipes!! Invite someone in to enjoy it with you!

this is my 90 year old Nana making on with the boys last yr! This is their “tada”

BASIC GINGERBREAD HOUSE RECIPE

6 cups flour

1 ¾ cups sugar

2/3 cup shortening

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 8-ounce container sour cream

2 eggs

To prepare dough:  Into large bowl, measure 3½ cups flour and remaining ingredients. With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. With hands, knead in remaining 2½ cups flour to make a soft dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or until dough is not sticky and is of easy kneading consistency.

To roll dough: Keep refrigerated until ready to use. Working with half a batch at a time on lightly floured work surface with lightly floured hands, knead dough until smooth. (Do not skip this step!!!) Roll out to 1/8” thickness on well-floured surface such as muslin stretched over a cutting board. (To help create uniform thickness, roll out between 2 wooden dowels placed on either side of dough.) Lay patterns on top and cut with sharp knife. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown and very firm when lightly touched with finger. Cool on wire rack.

ORNAMENTAL ICING

1 16-ounce package confectioners’ sugar (about 4½ cups)

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

3 egg whites at room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in bowl. With mixer, blend until smooth, then beat at high speed until very stiff. Makes 3 cups. Keep icing covered as it dries very quickly. Yum.

This recipe came from Grandma Lina, who got it out of a Good Housekeeping magazine sometime in the 1960’s. The original gingerbread houses she made were placed on a paper Coke carton for stability. As long as the air inside remains humidity-free, the house should stand. In 2007, Kelly’s lasted through August of 2008!

Over the past week if you had been at our house you would have experienced dough people baking and bake fest 2012. Whew.  We also did our gingerbread house which thankfully required no baking, but smelled as if it was freshly baked!  Here are some pictures from our baking adventures!

lest you think it was all dreamy, take a look at my zopf loaf this yr! Terrible without those Swiss girls here to help me!

Oh me oh my!  Thankfully, Bake fest 2012 was more successful!

Bake fest 2012

Gingerbread house

there might have been a wall collapse

Thanks, Grandma for the gingerbread house! The boys loved working on it together! We’ve never had such a fancy kit!

Hey folks! Things are pretty jolly around here. I did the baked goods for my friends big vendor sale yesterday! None of us sold much but we met lots of sweet gals and had a great time. In lieu of baking up another storm of baked goods for neighbor  gifts I got home last night, made up baskets for neighbors and friends and we went out on a little family delivery drive.  I was worn out! I was disappointed to not sell like I did at the Embassy sales but glad that I can skip the other baking day!   Seth was a rock star this weekend while I baked and was at the sale. I came home to relaxed happy boys last night after an afternoon with daddy. Did I mention he did tons of dishes, helped with meals and even was talked into some taste-testing. What a guy.

Last week I was doing my yearly search on what fun advent gifty things people are doing. I love our open the window advent calendar and our evening devotionals. We will keep those from yr to yr but some year when I have oodles of time and a little extra cash I want to do something like this for the kids with bags containing little notes and sweets…

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Aren’t they cute?!

I found this recipe for Winter Minestrone (Barefoot Contessa) while I was pintresting advent stuff. It is a rainy chilly day here so we are snuggling down for afternoon naps and when we wake up I will make this soup and we’ll decorate our gingerbread house. Seth confessed he doesn’t have the patience to survive another gingerbread house project so we will surprise him with our finished product and frazzled nerves!