Gingerbread pictures! And lots of them!
Whoops! Almost forgot the cut.
HOUSE THE FIRST
The first house (numbering arbitrarily) was the Perfectionist House. Mind you, I don't think the builders like this name: it's not quite right. So we'll call it "Chez Meticulous, or Perfection Takes Time" (in honour of the fact that it took them three times as long to finish their house as it took the other groups).
Here we have starfishchick carefully applying the mortar (I have never seen it applied so straight!) as Derrick once again checks the instructions. (NB: there are a grand total of six steps to follow.)
Now Martha was helping to apply the mortar, while the others held the roof in place. This is one bonus to their perfectionism. They listened to the instructions when they called for 15 minutes' setting time for the mortar. Groups who didn't do that suffered the consequences, as we shall get to shortly.
... time passes ...
Here you see the careful attention to detail. Derrick held the jube jube in place for at least 5 minutes, to ensure that the "holiday wreath" would hold. (Also, note the careful cobblecandy work.)
Later on in the evening (for reference's sake, this is after Noah left), and perfectionist house was almost complete. A few details to point out: the icing-cicles, the candy-cane window sills, the frosting tiling on the roof (where other houses, as you will see, had frosted seams), the curtains, and so forth. And this is still pre-fencing.
This is officially as close as anyone under 18 got to touching this house.
Another look at the front of the house, all gussied up with "real" windows and stuff. (Oh, and a chimney that actually stayed on!)
Once completed, the perfectionist house was, sadly, abandoned. Which just goes to show: it's a lot more fun to build gingerbread houses, than to watch them.
The house was not entirely abandoned, for it was decided that it could still use a fence. A candy fence. (What else?)
Another detail shot (for this house really warrants it). Notice the careful tiling around the door, the icing-cicles, the ornate wreath... There's no way this house can have tasted as good as it looked.
Another added touch: an oversized Christmas tree! Martha had to hold it up while the icing dried...
... but it stayed up just fine after that.
And here we have the finished product: the fully-iced roof, the picket fence, and a snowman in the front yard.
HOUSE THE SECOND
The second house (still with the arbitrary numbering) was the Gore residence. Not Al and Tipper, but instead it was gore of the cinematic variety. The original plan, calling for zombies and bodies, was abandoned (you can only get so much detail out of a gingerbread man) in favour of a CSI-style crime scene.
Things started off normally enough: Anna had the smart idea of tiling the roof with candy before putting it on the house. (If only it was that simple in real life!) None of the fans of the gruesome had yet taken an interest in the house.
We begin to see the dark side of this house. The snowman is on his back, with X's for eyes, and there is an abundance of red candy. (But note the multicoloured holiday wreath above the door!)
Yep... definitely not your run-of-the-mill gingerbread house. I'm glad we kept the kids away from this one. It's amazing what you can do with a few red mini-candies and a candy cane.
Things were really starting to pick up here, as a few of the more ... eager builders got into the theme. Anna was still working on tiling the roof, while Dave put the finishing touches on the diorama out front.
Here we see a completed CSI house. The back is fairly innocuous: just your run-of-the-mill break-and-enter. (It may not be typical gingerbread housing fare, but the violence is minimal...)
It looks like they tried to stick something to the window. In the end, this group decided that (for the back of the house, at least) simple is best.
The chalk outline on the roof is the first sign that something was amiss. The yellow evidence markers indicate that there were some very... enthusiastic crime scene specialists on hand. I think that the licorice is a river of blood. I decided not to ask, though.
And now we get around to the front. Mutilated gingerbread men, gummy-bear corpses... the whole kit and kaboodle. (Note, too, how the knife manages to make it into nearly every photo...)
To complete the look, a pentagram (with chocolate sparkles!) on the other side of the roof. Yummy demon-summoning, anyone?
HOUSE THE THIRD
The third house was of a more whimsical "the more, the merrier!" school of architecture. More candy, more icing, more helpers! The children helped with this one (mostly because it was at their level, and also because the perfectionists didn't dare let them near their house), and were avid decorators - and eaters - of the gingerbread.
Here is a shot about 2/3 of the way through the decorating. Note that one wall still remained to be done, but that the roof was already seriously adorned with candy. Also, note the extra (and not-to-scale) gingerbread men in the foreground. These will come in handy later.
Abundance did not mean slap-dashery. It took a lot of time (or so I am told) to get all of those mini-chocolate-chips to stick to the icing on the roof! If you look carefully, you can see that one of the roofing tiles had
started to shift a bit under the weight of the candy and attention. (I also have to admit that when I saw these people paused for the requisite 15 minutes, I uttered a disdainful "pshaw!", that may have spurred them into action prematurely...)
I think that this group began to realize that it was in trouble when the "windows" (chocolate brownies, or somesuch: Shirlie brought them with her, all the way from California!) started falling off. Their solution? More mortar! Also, Yuval's attention to the chimney led to problems with its own structural stability. But it did hold, in the end.
The row of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts (!) along the top initially started as one at one end, one at the other end, of the roof. But Madeleine (age 4) decided that that just wasn't enough chocolate along the top.
These are the main contributors to the house o' plenty. Clockwise (more or less), from the bottom: Shirlie, Jean, Sophie, Monika, Madeleine, and Yuval.
Because certain people (most notably, those in the under-5 crowd) wanted to decorate (and eat) more gingerbread, the out-of-scale trees were brought into play. There was discussion of including it, somehow, in the gingerbread house itself...
... so on it went! A lot of people have huge trees out front. Why should gingerbread people be any different? (Yet note the inferior cobbling, compared to chez perfectionistes...)
Another action shot of the builders-o-plenty.
This is a shot of the completed house-of-plenty. Note the giant sitting on the house: I have a sneaky suspicion that, by the end of it, he was mortared there for structural support.
The house had barely been completed - the mortar not yet settled - and already certain young ones were eyeing it hungrily...
Before he left, Noah's parents made sure that he touched the gingerbread house. Less than a year old, and already he's a budding home inspector! He didn't seem that impressed with the effort, though.
HOUSE THE FOURTH
I was tempted, in writing about this house, to avoid naming names, and maybe even to blur faces, just to be on the safe side. The so-called "Katrina House" (or, "New Orleans is Sinking") quickly became a diorama expressing the political issues surrounding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on New Orleans in 2005. It just looks like an excuse to be politically incorrect. As a medium, gingerbread does not lend itself to nuance.
Where to begin? with the brown water that, although receding, left its mark on the town? The foundations (under the roof, near side) that were damaged by the flood? (The flood itself, of course, being represented in the blue line on the roof.) The alligator (the official state animal of Louisiana!) consuming a victim? The getaway boat (in the foreground), with room only for the white gummies? The black-faced local on the roof watching TV and sporting a "HELP" sign? (Meticulous work courtesy of Yuki, btw.) I think that that at least covers the highlights.
Bruce built a helicopter (probably a news helicopter). You can't see the rotors because they're moving too fast.
A rare behind-the-scenes view of how this was all put together, including the toothpick propping up the rooftop denizen. (Note the split seam along the top of the roof!)
The port side of the roof was sliding off so much that it had to be shored up with a coaster (dubbed "tidal wave") until the mortar settled. These people do not know patience.
Final montage, including boarded-up windows, cadavers, and FEMA-style warning triangle. (I don't get it, either.)
This group made as much of a disaster zone out of the table as they did the house.
PEOPLE
Sophie is but 2, but really knows what she wants. (She doesn't always know how to communicate it, though.)
Madeleine is all of 4! This is her idea of a BIG smile for the camera!
Group photo, showing builders taking a quick break. (Lousy unions...)
I like this photo. It makes our apartment look big!
An interesting contrast: perfectionist-house in the late stages of development, with the trouble that was New-Orleans-Is-Sinking-House looming in the background.
The completed house-of-plenty and house-of-plenty-of-gore, side by side.
Jean has always had a knack for being in odd photos.
Time for the children to take their leave.
I ... don't know what to say.
Shirlie just looks like she was going to steal that baby.
After the gingerbread houses, we roped Monika into sight-reading the carol book. Folks, if you're looking for a book of Christmas songs and carols, you can do worse than Christmas Songs by Budget Books. You can probably do better too, mind you. A lot of vintage work was not included in here, and some odd selections were. I believe the laughter here was provoked my Marc and my gruffing it up for the men-only lines in Good King Wenceslas (there were only the two of us, so we had to do something).
The print in that book was pretty small.
Trying to find another song to sing...
By the end of the evening, Ingrid had resorted to using a straw to drink her egg-nog. She complains that it's because of the milk content, but we all know better...
... and now I go to bed.
HOUSE THE FIRST
The first house (numbering arbitrarily) was the Perfectionist House. Mind you, I don't think the builders like this name: it's not quite right. So we'll call it "Chez Meticulous, or Perfection Takes Time" (in honour of the fact that it took them three times as long to finish their house as it took the other groups).
Here we have starfishchick carefully applying the mortar (I have never seen it applied so straight!) as Derrick once again checks the instructions. (NB: there are a grand total of six steps to follow.)
Now Martha was helping to apply the mortar, while the others held the roof in place. This is one bonus to their perfectionism. They listened to the instructions when they called for 15 minutes' setting time for the mortar. Groups who didn't do that suffered the consequences, as we shall get to shortly.
... time passes ...
Here you see the careful attention to detail. Derrick held the jube jube in place for at least 5 minutes, to ensure that the "holiday wreath" would hold. (Also, note the careful cobblecandy work.)
Later on in the evening (for reference's sake, this is after Noah left), and perfectionist house was almost complete. A few details to point out: the icing-cicles, the candy-cane window sills, the frosting tiling on the roof (where other houses, as you will see, had frosted seams), the curtains, and so forth. And this is still pre-fencing.
This is officially as close as anyone under 18 got to touching this house.
Another look at the front of the house, all gussied up with "real" windows and stuff. (Oh, and a chimney that actually stayed on!)
Once completed, the perfectionist house was, sadly, abandoned. Which just goes to show: it's a lot more fun to build gingerbread houses, than to watch them.
The house was not entirely abandoned, for it was decided that it could still use a fence. A candy fence. (What else?)
Another detail shot (for this house really warrants it). Notice the careful tiling around the door, the icing-cicles, the ornate wreath... There's no way this house can have tasted as good as it looked.
Another added touch: an oversized Christmas tree! Martha had to hold it up while the icing dried...
... but it stayed up just fine after that.
And here we have the finished product: the fully-iced roof, the picket fence, and a snowman in the front yard.
HOUSE THE SECOND
The second house (still with the arbitrary numbering) was the Gore residence. Not Al and Tipper, but instead it was gore of the cinematic variety. The original plan, calling for zombies and bodies, was abandoned (you can only get so much detail out of a gingerbread man) in favour of a CSI-style crime scene.
Things started off normally enough: Anna had the smart idea of tiling the roof with candy before putting it on the house. (If only it was that simple in real life!) None of the fans of the gruesome had yet taken an interest in the house.
We begin to see the dark side of this house. The snowman is on his back, with X's for eyes, and there is an abundance of red candy. (But note the multicoloured holiday wreath above the door!)
Yep... definitely not your run-of-the-mill gingerbread house. I'm glad we kept the kids away from this one. It's amazing what you can do with a few red mini-candies and a candy cane.
Things were really starting to pick up here, as a few of the more ... eager builders got into the theme. Anna was still working on tiling the roof, while Dave put the finishing touches on the diorama out front.
Here we see a completed CSI house. The back is fairly innocuous: just your run-of-the-mill break-and-enter. (It may not be typical gingerbread housing fare, but the violence is minimal...)
It looks like they tried to stick something to the window. In the end, this group decided that (for the back of the house, at least) simple is best.
The chalk outline on the roof is the first sign that something was amiss. The yellow evidence markers indicate that there were some very... enthusiastic crime scene specialists on hand. I think that the licorice is a river of blood. I decided not to ask, though.
And now we get around to the front. Mutilated gingerbread men, gummy-bear corpses... the whole kit and kaboodle. (Note, too, how the knife manages to make it into nearly every photo...)
To complete the look, a pentagram (with chocolate sparkles!) on the other side of the roof. Yummy demon-summoning, anyone?
HOUSE THE THIRD
The third house was of a more whimsical "the more, the merrier!" school of architecture. More candy, more icing, more helpers! The children helped with this one (mostly because it was at their level, and also because the perfectionists didn't dare let them near their house), and were avid decorators - and eaters - of the gingerbread.
Here is a shot about 2/3 of the way through the decorating. Note that one wall still remained to be done, but that the roof was already seriously adorned with candy. Also, note the extra (and not-to-scale) gingerbread men in the foreground. These will come in handy later.
Abundance did not mean slap-dashery. It took a lot of time (or so I am told) to get all of those mini-chocolate-chips to stick to the icing on the roof! If you look carefully, you can see that one of the roofing tiles had
started to shift a bit under the weight of the candy and attention. (I also have to admit that when I saw these people paused for the requisite 15 minutes, I uttered a disdainful "pshaw!", that may have spurred them into action prematurely...)
I think that this group began to realize that it was in trouble when the "windows" (chocolate brownies, or somesuch: Shirlie brought them with her, all the way from California!) started falling off. Their solution? More mortar! Also, Yuval's attention to the chimney led to problems with its own structural stability. But it did hold, in the end.
The row of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts (!) along the top initially started as one at one end, one at the other end, of the roof. But Madeleine (age 4) decided that that just wasn't enough chocolate along the top.
These are the main contributors to the house o' plenty. Clockwise (more or less), from the bottom: Shirlie, Jean, Sophie, Monika, Madeleine, and Yuval.
Because certain people (most notably, those in the under-5 crowd) wanted to decorate (and eat) more gingerbread, the out-of-scale trees were brought into play. There was discussion of including it, somehow, in the gingerbread house itself...
... so on it went! A lot of people have huge trees out front. Why should gingerbread people be any different? (Yet note the inferior cobbling, compared to chez perfectionistes...)
Another action shot of the builders-o-plenty.
This is a shot of the completed house-of-plenty. Note the giant sitting on the house: I have a sneaky suspicion that, by the end of it, he was mortared there for structural support.
The house had barely been completed - the mortar not yet settled - and already certain young ones were eyeing it hungrily...
Before he left, Noah's parents made sure that he touched the gingerbread house. Less than a year old, and already he's a budding home inspector! He didn't seem that impressed with the effort, though.
HOUSE THE FOURTH
I was tempted, in writing about this house, to avoid naming names, and maybe even to blur faces, just to be on the safe side. The so-called "Katrina House" (or, "New Orleans is Sinking") quickly became a diorama expressing the political issues surrounding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on New Orleans in 2005. It just looks like an excuse to be politically incorrect. As a medium, gingerbread does not lend itself to nuance.
Where to begin? with the brown water that, although receding, left its mark on the town? The foundations (under the roof, near side) that were damaged by the flood? (The flood itself, of course, being represented in the blue line on the roof.) The alligator (the official state animal of Louisiana!) consuming a victim? The getaway boat (in the foreground), with room only for the white gummies? The black-faced local on the roof watching TV and sporting a "HELP" sign? (Meticulous work courtesy of Yuki, btw.) I think that that at least covers the highlights.
Bruce built a helicopter (probably a news helicopter). You can't see the rotors because they're moving too fast.
A rare behind-the-scenes view of how this was all put together, including the toothpick propping up the rooftop denizen. (Note the split seam along the top of the roof!)
The port side of the roof was sliding off so much that it had to be shored up with a coaster (dubbed "tidal wave") until the mortar settled. These people do not know patience.
Final montage, including boarded-up windows, cadavers, and FEMA-style warning triangle. (I don't get it, either.)
This group made as much of a disaster zone out of the table as they did the house.
PEOPLE
Sophie is but 2, but really knows what she wants. (She doesn't always know how to communicate it, though.)
Madeleine is all of 4! This is her idea of a BIG smile for the camera!
Group photo, showing builders taking a quick break. (Lousy unions...)
I like this photo. It makes our apartment look big!
An interesting contrast: perfectionist-house in the late stages of development, with the trouble that was New-Orleans-Is-Sinking-House looming in the background.
The completed house-of-plenty and house-of-plenty-of-gore, side by side.
Jean has always had a knack for being in odd photos.
Time for the children to take their leave.
I ... don't know what to say.
Shirlie just looks like she was going to steal that baby.
After the gingerbread houses, we roped Monika into sight-reading the carol book. Folks, if you're looking for a book of Christmas songs and carols, you can do worse than Christmas Songs by Budget Books. You can probably do better too, mind you. A lot of vintage work was not included in here, and some odd selections were. I believe the laughter here was provoked my Marc and my gruffing it up for the men-only lines in Good King Wenceslas (there were only the two of us, so we had to do something).
The print in that book was pretty small.
Trying to find another song to sing...
By the end of the evening, Ingrid had resorted to using a straw to drink her egg-nog. She complains that it's because of the milk content, but we all know better...
... and now I go to bed.