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It is Christmas season and we love to start off the month by making a family gingerbread house. This year we have been trying to tie more of our activities into the true meaning of Christmas. So, this year we decided to make a nativity scene. I was so busy with other things and so I decided to take advantage of Walmart's new grocery pickup. I love it so much. You simply go to grocery.walmart.com then follow these steps.
- Select a pickup location.
- Choose the groceries you want and add them to your cart.
- Choose a time the following day you want to pick it up.
- Finish up by paying for your groceries
PICK UP YOUR ORDER
You will receive confirmation and info to download the app for Walmart grocery. They send you a notification when your groceries are ready. Once you have received the notification that your order is ready:
- Arrive at your selected location. There are signs posted to the designated pickup area. At my Walmart, it was around the side near the back.
- Call the number on the parking sign. Tell them your name and which parking stall.
- They brought my groceries out within 3 minutes. Everything is kept cool in the refrigerated area until you arrive. My milk eggs and ice cream with perfectly cold.
- They show you your grocery list and the checklist they made as they gathered your items. You sign for it and then they load your groceries in your car. They even gave me a little tote bag with a bunch of free samples and a water bottle.
Like I said before, IT WAS FANTASTIC and FREE! I know I saved a ton of money too because I stuck to my grocery list. I didn't walk through the store tossing in items I hadn't budgeted for. Life saver and money saver, in my case. I bought all of the ingredients that I needed for our gingerbread nativity.
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I adapted this recipe from the original found here
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light molasses or dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water12Royal Icing:
1 pound (3-3/4 cups) powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
1 to 2 large egg whites, or substitute 4 teaspoons packaged egg whites and 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract, vanilla or lemon juice
food coloring (I colored mine a brown color to blend a little with the gingerbread)
Directions
Watch how to make this recipe.
Gingerbread House:
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda together until the mixture is smooth. Blend in the flour and water to make a stiff dough.
Chill at least 30 minutes or until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut out the following paper patterns for the gingerbread house template:
Roof- 7″ x 5″ Back- 4″ x 6 1/2″ Two Sides- 4 1/2″ x 4″Roll gingerbread dough out to edges on a large, rimless cookie sheet. Place paper patterns onto the rolled out dough on parchment paper. With a sharp, straight edged knife, cut around each of the pieces, but leave pieces in place.
Bake at 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes until dough feels firm but it can burn really quickly.
Place patterns on top of the gingerbread again and trim shapes if needed. Leave to cool on baking sheet.
Place royal icing into pastry bag with a writing tip and press out to decorate individual parts of house. Let dry until hardened.
Glue sides, front and back of house together at corners using royal icing. Place an object against the pieces to prop up until icing is dry (it only takes a few minutes).
Glue the roof piece to the pitched roofline of the house. Then, similarly, glue the sides and roof of the entryway together with icing. Attach the entryway to the front of the house.
Royal Icing:
Mix all of the ingredients together using an electric hand mixer, until the icing is smooth and thin enough to be pressed through a pastry bag with a writing tip. Add more lemon juice, if necessary.
Adapted from theFood Network
Prepare all the treats and candies for making the characters.
I used:
toasted coconut
stick pretzels
regular marshmallows
mini marshmallows
fruit rollups
spice drops
fruit slices candies ( they look like the spice drops but shaped like an orange slice)
graham crackers
Tiny black sprinkles
fruit mentos
Toothpicks to hold the body together
Aren't these Wise men the cutest. I used different colors for fruit rollups for the crown and head covering. The Mentos (the orange specifically) were PERFECT head. Spice drops worked perfect for the shirt and sleeves and the gifts. The fruit slice we perfect for the bottom of the robe. I attached eyes very last with a dot of corn syrup.
I used the same treats to make Mary and Joseph as I did the wise men. Baby Jesus is laying on a graham cracker bed filled with coconut and the head is laying on a marshmallow. Mary's hair is royal icing.
My youngest was having a ball shoving pretzel legs into the marshmallows. He just loved it. When we were finished and ready to put them all together he didn't want to put the sheep in. He just wanted to walk them all over the table.
It took us a while to complete, but the kids had a ball. They played with the characters all night. This is an activity that I think will become a yearly tradition. We had so much fun making all these adorable characters. My kids did say that we were missing a camel. So I guess I need to brainstorm how to make that one for next year.
What are some of your family Christmas traditions?
I hope you have a fantastic Christmas!
*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
