Run Run Run Gingerbread Baby.

Every year we make ginger bread cookies. This year turned out a bit different… I never imagined Gingerbread could be so scary.

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First we always…read The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.  This was the first time that little Noa was old enough to really follow the story.  I thought she would love it.  Everyday she makes me tell her the story of Little Red Riding Hood… so I thought she would really enjoy this happy little Christmas tradition.  We barely got through half of the book before she was telling us, “That’s all. This book is over… I don’t want to hear this anymore.”  If you are not familiar with the story you really should get this book… it is wonderfully illustrated and just a treasure…but to jog your memory …The story is about a little boy who opens the oven before the 8 minutes and the Gingerbread baby runs off and gets into trouble.    She didn’t like all this trouble the little gingerbread baby was getting into.  I can’t blame her, as a mother of 7 kids I don’t know who I would be more ticked at ,the boy who couln’t cool his jets for 8 minutes and leave my oven alone…or the house full of scampering baked goods with bad attitudes.

Once we finished the book she was much more comfortable.

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So we roll out our cookies and cut them and into the oven they go.  Then like every year I walk up to the oven…I grab the handle and say, “It hasn’t been 8minutes but I want to peek, can I?”  All the kids laugh nooooooooooo!  Two year ago Ash, then 5, said, “go ahead none of them have eyes they will just run around and bump into each other.”  This year Noa was not okay with the concept of cookies loose in the kitchen…and then to make matters worse Bel was around the corner and she said in a gingerbread baby voice, “lemme out”….and that was too much. Noa grabbed the rolling pin and the wooden spoon and she started beating the oven.  Our sweet little Christmas tradition was turning not so sweet.  So I promised I would wait.  Of course all her brothers and sisters were just roaring with laughter…. I have to admit the look on her face was pretty funny.  I would have pitied the gingerbread babies that would have hopped out of that oven!  I am not sure why the Gingerbread Baby is a scarier story than a wolf that eats your grandmother…but who knows what goes on in the mind of a two year old.

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She was quick to eat the head AND legs off quickly… you can never be too safe!

You can buy the book Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett (and plenty of other beautiful books by Ms.Brett)… here.
Jan Brett has a wonderful website that is packed with activities and wonderful printables… here.