Smashing the Old Year

This is our second year making a gingerbread house.  Last year it was an end-of-the-year homeschool project, complete with homemade gingerbread dough, templates, warped walls and singed shingles.  I found this "from scratch" deal to be highly stressful, even though it did pull lots of subject areas for a practical, educational project.  We marked it with the year 2007, and it hung around the house for a couple of weeks, gathering dust.  I won't tell you what else it gathered, OK? By the time the New Year's Eve came around, I was trying to think of a non-offensive way to get rid of the thing. We came up with the idea of SMASHING it at the New Year's Eve party!  Sort of smashing the old year, and eating a triumphant bit at the same time. So we took it to our friends' house and announced our intention. I don't need to tell you how the other kids reacted, do I? Allowed to smash something...make a huge mess....with permission? YES!!  So at midnight, after the poppers (are those ever messy) and the sparkling grape juice, we let all the kids smash the 2007 house. They all scrambled for pieces to eat afterward, eating, as children will, right off the floor.  You know they do.

This year, I got smarter and bought a kit from Sam's.  Wow, so much smarter! No, it wasn't an educational project, but then, most of the rest of life is, so it all shakes out in the end. The whole thing was finished in one night, and then went on into glory last night at the party. It's the only thing that all ages of kids actually wanted to participate in! Smashing out the old year! Yeah! It was pretty, though:

Sam's - $9.95 - priceless memories.  Do it!