"Christmas treats spread love and joy -
How about a gingerbread boy?
Mix the batter, roll it smooth, cut out little men,
Bake them up, have a taste, and share them with a friend!"
Mason's eyes lit up when I read him today's Yule Elf mission card. We talked about the day, and came up with a plan...a wonderful plan for a Saturday. First we would go to Milagros for breakfast and read today's Advent book, then we would head to the library for a Children's Christmas Origami Class, pick up a Christmas tree permit on our way home, and make Gingerbread Cookies for our Elf Mission in the afternoon.
The thermometer read -10 when we stepped out of the house, and I barely got the car started, but it was worth it. We had a great morning out, with a special breakfast and a super-fun origami class. I've decided to start doing more origami with Mason. He seems to enjoy it (unless it gets to complicated) and it is a wonderful teacher of patience and mindfulness...
Back at home, while River was napping, we started our gingerbread cookies.
"Mama, let's play that we're little elves who work in the yummy treats department. Your name is Snappy."
"I like that...Snappy the cookie elf. What is your name?"
"Mr. Jingles!"
So, Snappy and Mr. Jingles the yummy treats elves got set up to bake a batch of gingerbread cookies. Mason wore his apron and chef's hat, which I made him two Christmas's ago now.
"Mix a batch of Gingerbread, smooth and spicy brown,
roll it with the rolling pin, up and up and down.
Cut it with the cookie cutters, lots of little men,
Put it in the oven till half past ten!"
Mason sifted all of the flour, because I knew there were at least two (possibly more) hard objects somewhere in the flour bag. Can you guess how they got there? He found half a fruit leather and a dried orange peel...and he thought this was absolutely hilarious. Almost as funny as the spoons that keep appearing in our shoes...
After we mixed the batter we rolled it out between layers of parchment and put it on a cookie sheet in the freezer to harden up.
Then, our friends and neighbors Bella and Melissa came over to help with the cutting out, baking, and decorating. It's a good thing too...this mama/daughter pair is a cookie-decorating dynamic duo. And we decided to have a pizza party as well...because, why not?
We had pizza while the cookies baked, and then got to work decorating them. We helped the kids frost them, and gave them little bits of colorful marzipan and sprinkles to decorate with. Bella made one extra special cookie...a gingerbread Melissa cookie!
Here are some of the finished cookies...can you spot Mason's five-eyed alien gingerbread man?
I'd like to say that we ended the evening with the kids peacefully reading Christmas books on the couch, but after a few too many cookies, Mason became what we affectionately call, "Monkey Man", and somehow all of the contents of both kids' dressers ended up spread out on the floor, with every ball in the house flying through the air.
We settled down enough to say a sweet goodbye though, and then after a warm bath, our Advent Sparkle Story, and lots more stories in bed, both of my little ones fell right to sleep.
Visit our Magical Advent post to learn more about what we're doing this year.
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