Gingerbread Houses and Blue Ribbons...

...what do they have in common? Well for this post the only thing Gingerbread Houses and Blue Ribbons have in common is the fact that they are going to be the two topics for this post...

For years my sister hosted our whole family for the long Thanksgiving wknd...we have a large family so this was a huge gift from her to our family~allowing her home to be over run with kids, the living room over run with men watching football, the kitchen over run with cooks (too many!!!), and just about every inch of her house pretty much full of noise and chaos...bathrooms running out of toilet paper, the sink always full of dishes, dogs and kids everywhere...the mud room full of NOT MUD...but goodies (that is where the yummy stuff was always kept, like momma's pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting)...the barn was where the kids would gravitate as they got a bit older. My parents would take their motorhome over a day or so ahead of time so when it got too loud we knew we could find a couple of minutes of peace out there. My brother would pull his camper in the yard somewhere and my sister always had their camper ready for Ed and I a place to be as well. My sister, a very gracious hostess, really knows how to throw a party! I bet she was never so glad to see tail lights on cars as she was the Sunday after Thanksgiving...the whole fam damily come and gone!!!

During the weekend a few traditions took place.

• At some point, usually on Friday night, we played BUNCO. Hilarious time with lots of "I'm gonna win!" and "You won last year!" and of course "DUCK" as the Bunco Buddy was tossed from table to table. Everyone got to play, no matter what your age! Even the littlest ones played, maybe with a bit of help from an older cousin or grandma, but they got to play too. There was always alot of laughter and ribbing that went on during BUNCO
• Friday morning the ladies would get up VERY EARLY and head off to Bend (an hours drive on a NORMAL day) and be there in time for the after Thanksgiving doorbusters. The last time we were all together we left the farm around 4 a.m., got about 5 miles away and turned back...the roads were a solid sheet of black ice...staying home just seemed to be the better choice!
• NOW...this is where the gingerbread house fits in...each year Ed and I would bake gingerbread walls, roofs, chimney's and people for a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Ed would mix up his secret (yes, it is a secret...and he still won't even tell me!!) recipe for mortar icing. After dinner on Thanksgiving, after the pumpkin pie had been served...after the dishwasher had been run and emptied for the umpteenth time...the ladies and children would take over my sisters master bedroom...card tables were set up all over the place. The gingerbread workshop was open!!! Everyone would put together their own gingerbread house...the ladies did large houses, the kids did smaller houses. My mother had the BESTEST assortment of candies and sprinkles and colored coconut (NO COCONUT FOR MY SISTER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!). Necco wafers. Peppermints. Licorice. Jelly Beans. M&M's (holiday colors!!). Smarties. Tubes and tubes of colored icing. I think momma must have started buying candy around Easter! We would continue to work on our houses throughout the weekend and then try to figure out how to get them transported back to our own homes on Sunday!

I have continued the tradition with my momma, albeit on a much smaller scale!! Now we do a prepackaged gingerbread house on or around Thanksgiving. Then, on Christmas Day we decorate gingerbread people to give to the staff who are working that holiday as a thank you. Here is a picture of Christmas 2005 GingerPeople.
My sister spent Thanksgiving with momma this year so earlier that week I took a gingerbread tree kit and all the needed items (hand mixer, measuring spoons, mixing bowls..etc) over and left them in mommas room. My great-niece, MacKenzie (who just had her 8th bday on Saturday!!!) "helped" Grandma Broken Arm decorate the tree...which we are now refering to as "The Leaning Tower of Christmas". On Christmas day momma and I will again make GingerPeople for the staff who will be working that day.


And Blue Ribbons???? Well, Ed told me a little while ago that I should enter Gramma's Aprons in the county fair, he is SURE I will get a blue ribbon...LOL cracking me up...gee, can you say "This man is in need of some serious points and will do or say anything to get them??" LOL OK, so I gave him a couple of points.