Homemade Marshmallows

Last year after Christmas, my bff and I made plans to start a tradition (this year) of making homemade marshamallows and decorating gingerbread houses at her house each Christmas.  Luckily, I remembered this plan just in time and called and invited myself over.  We had a great time, and the marshmallows were delicious!  She used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  EB used homemade vanilla extract which she says is the trick for making them extra yummy!

When I told my sister about our plans, she pointed out that marshmallows only cost a dollar for a bag...clearly, she had never had homemade marshmallows!  Unfortunately, she had to work and couldn't join us, but my niece along with my mom, my kiddos, and our friend from college and her sweet boy were able to join us. 

Marshmallows in progress.



The kids were amazed by this giant marshmallow!



O enjoyed mixing the marshmallows around to coat them in powdered sugar.  She worked happily until EB told her she could eat a marshmallow, then it was all over.  As soon as she found out she could eat them, that was ALL she wanted to do!



Homemade marshmallows are GREAT with hot chocolate!






While EB made the marshmallows, the kids worked on their gingerbread cottages.  Unfortunately, the gingerbread cottages in these kits were not prebuilt.  O did not want any help with hers (this was fine with me because I really don't like building the houses), and she was quite creative...she made a gingerbread sandwich!  She didn't eat it, of course, but she was VERY proud of her creation!



I also had a gingerbread tree kit.  It's made up of stars that you stack to form a tree.  It was really fun to build the tree, and the children took turns placing the stars on the tree (it reminded me a little of building the pink tower).  E even joined in and stacked a few stars.  After we finished building the tree, the kids had a great time decorating it.



We did lots of fun activities, but I think that the kids enjoyed playing under the table and blankets more than anything.



They ventured upstairs and found an empty room with just a bedspread and a few pillows.  It's amazing how entertained they were for quite a while with these simple things.  (they are all hiding under the blanket)




We had a great day, and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!  Thanks, EB!