{"id":2542,"date":"2009-10-11T23:50:32","date_gmt":"2009-10-12T03:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=2542"},"modified":"2015-05-13T14:03:22","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T18:03:22","slug":"nana-funhalloween-gingerbread-and-kiddie-aprons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/11\/nana-funhalloween-gingerbread-and-kiddie-aprons\/","title":{"rendered":"Nana Fun~Halloween Gingerbread and Kiddie Aprons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"halloweengingerR2brite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long been a family tradition to make a gingerbread house at Christmas. When my children were little, it was\u00c2\u00a0an enormous 3\u00c2\u00a0day undertaking that began with making up a huge batch of gingerbread dough, refrigerating it overnight, then baking the pieces in the morning, constructing the house after the pieces cooled in the afternoon, letting it sit overnight for the frosting to set up and then finally, decorating.<\/p>\n

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\"halloweengingerRthief-brite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Now, Wilton has kits, like prefab houses, with prebaked gingerbread pieces, frosting mix and even basic decorating pieces. With my grandchildren, we build the quick and easy Wilton way.<\/p>\n

I have been looking forward to this year’s Christmas gingerbread decorating party since August, when 4 year old Robert began\u00c2\u00a0asking when we could\u00c2\u00a0do it again. \u00c2\u00a0So I was absolutely delighted last week when I came across the new Wilton Halloween Haunted Mansion kits at Michael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Craft store.<\/p>\n

The day I spotted them, without even waiting for a 40% off coupon, I plunked two house kits in my cart and headed for the checkout aisle. That next day during “recess” at homeschool, Laurel and I constructed the houses and soon thereafter, both children had decorated their gingerbread Halloween Haunted Mansions. They are so proud of their houses and it was just so much fun.<\/p>\n

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\"HalloweengingerJeannettefront-brite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Robert spent the night so he could decorate his house without his bossy sister and with\u00c2\u00a0my undivided attention. His grandfather had brought home a bag of licorice nuggets to add to the decorating materials. While Robert was busily decorating and popping more than a few candies in his mouth, I answered a phone call.\u00c2\u00a0 Big mistake.<\/p>\n

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\"HalloweengingerDougfront-brite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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When I returned, almost half the bag was gone, Robert\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lips and teeth were black and he was grinning apologetically.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0About an hour after he was tucked in for the night, he awakened crying that he had a tummy ache.<\/p>\n

Alllllllllll night long he cried, sleeping no longer than 20 minutes at a time.\u00c2\u00a0About 2 a.m. I \u00c2\u00a0finally crawled in his bed, to try to\u00c2\u00a0comfort him, but he wasn’t\u00c2\u00a0comforted\u00c2\u00a0and I wasn’t sleeping.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0The next morning, he was fine, but I wasn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Nanas need their sleep.\u00c2\u00a0 I have\u00c2\u00a0certainly learned my lesson about leaving a little boy unsupervised with a bag of candy.<\/p>\n

My daughter was so excited when I shared the pictures of our decorating efforts that she hurried out to get a few houses. Since her little guy, Alastair, is too young to participate, she invited some friends over to join her in the fun. Their houses were delightful.<\/p>\n

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\"halloweengingerLhatapronmitbrite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Two years ago, in anticipation of making our Christmas gingerbread houses, I purchased two children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chef sets, with an apron, oven mitt and chef\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hat, one white with black checked apron pockets and trim the other in red with red gingham, but these are no longer available.<\/p>\n

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\"halloweengingerapron-stirringbrite\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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I embroidered them with some darling designs from the Cookie Cutter<\/em> collection at Roberta’s Creations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laurel\u00c2\u00a0wore her apron\u00c2\u00a0while decorating the gingerbread. But Robert was making such a mess that I finally stripped off the apron and\u00c2\u00a0shirt and then\u00c2\u00a0chased him to the bathtub when we were finished.<\/p>\n

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\"apronhatLrbrite\"<\/a>

looking over the Christmas mincemeat pie which they “helped” make by pouring in the filling<\/p><\/div>\n

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They have used their chef sets quite a lot and enjoy “suiting up” for baking sessions with their mother. But whether or not the children\u00c2\u00a0have an apron, I encourage all mothers and grandmothers to make a gingerbread house with\u00c2\u00a0their \u00c2\u00a0little ones, either for Halloween or Christmas.\u00c2\u00a0 But don’t leave the candy unattended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long been a family tradition to make a gingerbread house at Christmas. When my children were little, it was\u00c2\u00a0an enormous 3\u00c2\u00a0day undertaking that began with making up a huge batch of gingerbread dough, refrigerating it overnight, then baking … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35,43,15,18,32],"tags":[985,986,987,988],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2542"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34102,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions\/34102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}