Don't we know it's Christmas time again?
This is the house that we baked...(i quite like the manic looking gingerbread man and the tiny snowman beside him...can you spot the rope which Santa uses to climb up? This is because the roof is too slopy and the reindeer can't get onto the roof, of course.)
...this is the baby that drooled at the house at we baked...
...this is the same baby and his brother that drooled at the house that we baked...
...this is the father that held the baby that drooled at the house that we baked...
...this is the backview of the house that we baked...
Predawn in the bedroom, before wash ups...
We made a gingerbread house yesterday. Either the intervening years since i last made a gingerbread house (3) have honed my biscuit baking skills or i was not in the right place when i made my last house, but it was, despite Ghin's best attempts, extremely EASY to do. Which, as my previous sentence implies, was not the experience i had when we made the last house. It think i was slightly slipshod on the measurements and the royal icing was not as royal as it was supposed to be and did not stick, despite being held in place by several blocks of turf (a fuel, i am sorry to say that we have in the house, due to its sentimental odours when burnt...although Oisin has taken to telling of anyone who brings turf into the house as it kills the insects and destroys the bogs, thereby causing the earth to melt, i kid you not. In fact he gave a shop keeper in The Creggan a telling off for stokcing turf - about two years ago...anyhow, i digress...) Gingerbread is a laughingly easy biscuit to bake. Even a child can do it - hence Oisin's involvement. As we gave it a whirl, Ghin sat in his highchair and fed on bits if dough which we handed to him, to keep him quiet. Oisin proved a most wonderful companion, stirring, sifting, beating, craking, keading, rolling, holding silicone paper downing...and then after that he decorated the house, whilst scoffing all the broken snowmen, of course. It was very satisfactory i must say. And this was really a trail run - we'll do a much nicer one the next time.
It has been such a long day. I don't know why either. Possibly because i haven't gone for a run. I also won't be able to go for a run for the next three weeks because Peter will be in Bali. Ghin will only go to one other person - Peter. The good news though is that he's a lot more settled. Yesterday he fell asleep in the car twice. And today, as i cleaned the house, he fell asleep in the sling. But because i had to get to Holywood, i had to put him into the car. This usually means that he will scream all the way to school. However, today, he calmed down and by the time we were on the mainroad, despite the tremendous pouty lower lip, and what a pouty lower lip he can get, he was silent and he even managed a giggle when we got to school.
