Gingerbread nativity

While shopping at TJ Maxx the other day, I came across this...

At first glance I thought it was unique and would look great in my nativity collection. I had never before seen cookie cutters anything like this. Then a few days later while grocery shopping I saw gingerbread cookie dough in the ready made roll.

And the Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea.

The only kid of mine with any sort of attention span for a task like this is Evan. Believe me, he was into it from the moment he saw the picture on the tin. He asked me everyday for days when we could make the gingerbread house. Finally it was Christmas break and his gingerbread dreams came true.

All the kids helped decorate the pieces and I got to curse under my breath as I tried to make them stick to the plate and stand up with the royal icing I whipped up. The kids were wonderful while we frosted the pieces - they were patient and sharing, even complimentary to each other. At one point I heard Evan tell Hailey that her wise man looked really good.

Our finished masterpiece. The food coloring options were limited. More of an abstract version for our first attempt - not much detailing going on there.

One of the batches of "extra" pieces we left in the oven too long. Thanks to the Silpat they just got really, really dark. Hailey spotted them in the garbage and rescued them telling us that we could use them for shadows. I was pretty impressed that her almost five year old mind could come up with that.

It was a bit more work than the ready made kits that we usually buy, but it was fun. Although I think the kids may have missed the decorating with candy. I am sure Hailey did. Maybe next year we can bedazzle the manger with candy canes and smarties.