Gingerbread Train

One of these days I might want to make a gingerbread house or other structure from scratch. For now, I prefer the easier kit version. Natalie and Eric enjoy it and it's not too much trouble for me. Grandma gave us this Gingerbread Train Kit last year, but since she gave it to us for Christmas, I decided to wait to make it until this year.

Natalie has been begging for a month to put this together. We had time this morning. The pre-made icing seemed a little dry, and I probably should have made a smaller hole in the bag for the icing to come out of. A couple of the gingerbread pieces didn't break apart cleanly either, and the engine is tilted a little to one side, but we made it work. It's nothing fancy but it's done and it's on display in the kitchen.

This little man enjoyed just watching, which is a good thing, because the delicate structure probably would not have been resistant to the clumsy weight of a three-year-old's hands. The slightly more dexterous hands of an eight-year-old were already making the train engine lean to one side as she applied the candy pieces to one of the wheels. The whole thing was built on something called an "EZ-Tray" to supposedly make it easier. It's not a very pretty display area, but the kids don't care, so I don't either.

I'm off to work in a bit. For the second time, the nutrition staff at the hospital has made a gingerbread reproduction of the hospital. It's pretty cool and I hope I can get a few pictures of it tonight and I'll try to share tomorrow.