Monday, December 06, 2010

The Stress-Free Guide to Christmas

First, start with your grandmother's rolling pin. It's full of love and lots of memories.

Make sure you have lots of flour on hand since you used the 1/2 fat margarine in the cookies and they're really, really sticky.

Make lots of different shapes and bake until done.

Enlist the help of your incredibly creative, funny, and adorable daughter.

Make sure you have more than one project going at a time.

Watch the roof of the gingerbread house slowly slide apart and frantically try to fix while still baking cookies.

Wait too long to fix roof, realize frosting has hardened, and decide whether or not to abandon project.


Decide to decorate gingerbread house anyway because you might as well.

Be very satisfied with the finished product, even if it looks nothing like the model on the box.

Thank hubby for coming up with the ingenious "patching" for the gingerbread roof.

Display the finished product with pride!
And, of course, laugh and laugh and laugh some more during the entire process. Make memories, forget about the rush of shopping, listen to old Christmas carols, and enjoy spending time with someone you love!

17 comments:

  1. That's what it's all about, being together like that ... Sounds like a merry time :)

    Now if you could just hook up your usb cable and send me some of those cookies virtually to have with my coffee ...

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  2. Joanne - Oh, if that were possible, I definitely would! :-) Though truth be told, my daughter and I are eating them left and right! I told her yesterday maybe we should slow down on eating them and she said, "Why? Are we saving them for some reason?" And I said, "Well, no we're not! Dig in!"

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  3. I know this year your Christmas will be even better cause you are with all of your family and your love for them shows through!

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  4. I'm going to do this with my daughter this weekend. Should be fun.

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  5. Oh I love, love, love, your gingerbread house!!! I especially love the cookie shingles on the roof. ;) Lord knows I've had my fair share of roof separations... nice problem solving ladies!

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  7. That looked like so much fun! I love the step by step pictures too!

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  8. What fun! My daughter and I have shared many similar moments decorating gingerbread houses too.

    I actually have the same rolling pin that you do-but mine came from a second hand shop. I always like to picture the grandma who used it many years ago:)

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  9. Stress-free Xmas and rolling pin? -beat the crap out of something.

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  10. T. Anne - The credit goes to my hubby! We were ready to chuck the whole project until he came in and saved the day. :-)

    Gail - You should try it with Parker! Though I'd recommend buying one that's already put together as it was REALLY frustrating to work with.

    Valerie - It's one of the few things I have from my grandmother and I don't use it often, but when I do, I really enjoy it.

    LOL, Nick!

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  11. Terri - I'm determined to avoid the commercialization of Christmas this year!

    Patti - Have fun!

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  12. I love your gingerbread house! I made one with my boys last year and we managed to wait a week before devouring it. Not sure how that miracle happened, but... Your pictures have inspired me to make another one this year!:)

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  13. These are wonderful! And it looks like you had so much fun making them. I'm going to do the same soon with my little one, he loves the decorating part. ;)

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  14. Erin - If you do make one, I hope you'll take pictures! :-)

    Talei - Yes, we had tons of fun doing this - lots and lots of laughter. That's the most important part. Who cares if I gain a few pounds by eating the fruits of our labor? ;-)

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  15. Ooh, now I'm hungry! :)

    I could feel the fun and laughter coming through your words. What a wonderful time! The pic of your daughter laughing is adorable.

    And YES to avoiding the commercialization of Christmas!

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  16. Thank you, Christine. :-) We had a great time and I loved making memories. I hope that my daughter will have the same type of warm, fuzzy memories of Christmas that I have from when I was a little girl. :-)

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  17. I came across this blog because you commented under me on another blog. Funny, since your comment was about coming across that blog from another blog, yourself. Your gingerbread house pictures remind me of a gingerbread house I made with some friends a few years ago. We decided to make the entire thing from scratch. The roof slid, just like yours, and we decided to cover the gap with Andes mints. I love the chocolate chip cookies. Fantastic.

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