At Family Home Evening on the first Monday night in December, the boys and I put together a gingerbread house kit that my mom had given us. The kit included four little cottages, 2 colors of frosting, and 2 kinds of small candies. I put together the little houses after school and let the frosting set up for a few hours before we'd be decorating them. I'd learned my lesson in previous years that it's best not to put them together right before you try man-handling them with more frosting and applying candies.
The boys each picked one of the four small, uniquely shaped houses. I found extra candies in Josh's stash that I poured in separate containers, I set out the frosting, put the houses on cardboard pieces, and the boys got to work.
Well, more accurately speaking, 3 of the boys got to work. Ammon didn't want to participate because he thought he was too old to decorate a gingerbread house. I disagreed with that thought, but couldn't convince him otherwise. I wasn't about to let the 4th house go to waste, especially since I like decorating them myself, so I joined the boys at the table, while Ammon and Josh watched a basketball game on TV (you can see Ammon in the back of this picture on the couch playing on his laptop).
The boys meticulously placed candies on the frosted sections of their house. I helped Kanyon apply his frosting, and he placed the candies himself. I helped Jonah and Micah with just the frosting on their windows, the rest of their frosting and candy applying was done completely on their own. I enjoyed watching their creative work!
They were so proud of their work! When we completed the houses, then we worked on making walkways on the cardboard pieces, too. As soon as they finished, the boys instantly wanted to know when they could start eating them. Can you believe I made them wait a week for the houses to be on display before I let them devour them?! They couldn't! But they were good boys and waited 6 days before breaking off candies to eat!
I just loved their little houses and having their creative artwork be on display that week! I had Josh & Ammon guess who's house belonged to who, and they had a hard time picking. We were so impressed with our boys' artistic work, especially compared to previous years' decorated gingerbread houses. The cottages were fit for the likings of Hansel and Gretel!
Kanyon's A-Frame Masterpiece with pretty sweetarts all in rows and a big door mantle :
Micah's house with a gumdrop-covered roof, and an awesome little wreath:
Jonah's flat-roofed house covered in mini candies, adorned with red windows:
I had a lot of fun working on my own house, especially trying to make bows out of frosting. I liked making it symmetrical and colorful and decorative. I loved my little house, and I was glad for the opportunity to decorate a house along with my boys.
It was a fun activity for Family Home Evening! Thanks mom for providing our family with such a treat!
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