It's harder than it looks

Chloe has reached the age where she likes getting involved in doing some cooking or baking.  She really enjoyed working in the kitchen with Mom while she was here for a few weeks over Ben's birth.  Who doesn't enjoy Christmas baking after all?  

One day Chloe and Granny set out to make a Gingerbread Christmas Tree, courtesy of Waitrose.  Day one was Stage One: Make the Gingerbread Cookies.  A bit of flour sifting, a bit of dough rolling, some cookie cutting and lots of singing.  Granny had bought some jingling napkin-rings made out of bells and Chloe liked nothing more than grasping one in each floury hand and enthusiastically shaking them while Granny sang "Jingle Bells" on repeat. 

  

And finally, with hoarse voices and tired arms they were done.

Into the oven those little stars went and they (mostly) came out as perfectly golden cookies.  Then after a short hiatus when we forgot about them for a few days, it was time to crack on with the build.  On to Stage Two: Decorating.  Icing and glittery toppings were generously supplied in the kit.  Wonderful, what could go wrong?  Well, let's just say that Granny was less than impressed with the quantity and quality fo the supplied supplies.  The decorating did not go quite as smoothly, or as beautifully as anticipated.  And no, it wasn't just due to Chloe's "help". 

On to Stage Three: The Build - possibly even less successful than Stage Two:

Et Voila!  The finished article.  How did they do?  I'll let you be the judge but I think they.....

Unfortunately gravity immediately took over so we didn't have long to bask in it's all its festive glory.

You win some, you lose some.  But Granny and Chloe had a blast and that's all that really matters.