First we bought lots of supplies (candy)! We also took lots of pictures of the church and calculated ratios, measurements, and sizes.Then we made gingerbread and rolled it out. This project took six batches of gingerbread.We had made a mock-up of cardboard first. Then we made a partial mock-up of gingerbread to try it out. We used the cardboard as patterns and cut out the gingebread, baked it, then cut it out again. Leaving edges helped to keep it strong and straight. Here's a picture of the baking process.After we took it out of the oven, we cut off the extra edges. The leftovers made good munchies!Then the pieces cooled on wax paper.We used the method of trial and error to see what would make the best stained glass windows. We settled on melted green jolly ranchers. We melted them in the microwave for just the right amount of time. (Otherwise the styrofoam melted and it oozed everywhere! :>)Then we poured the hot "glass" into the window holes.There are over 40 stained glass windows in our gingerbread church.After everything cooled and dried, then we made lots of brown icing for mortar.We built the gingerbread church piece by piece, with icing reinforcement on the inside and outside.After a few sections were finished, we let it harden overnight.Finally the church was built.Next we placed it on its wooden platform (which we also built), and started to do the shingling. In this case, mini-oreos were perfect.But first we split them in half and scraped off their yummy insides.Finishing the roofing.Of course after we finished the roofing we had to test the stained glass windows. Three flourescent lights are hidden inside the church.Then came the outlining in icing.And we began to plan the landscaping.Landscaping from one side.And the other. Now we were ready to transport it to the church. See the Installation process !The nativity took a lot more experimenting and creativity. We had a definite idea for the manger. Here it is. Then we had to make people and animals big enough to be somewhat proportional.We tried several ideas for the people and animals, until we settled on making gingerbread animals and people like paper dolls. We found patterns on the Internet for an angel , a camel , a cow , a donkey , and sheep .Our first try for the animals was to outline them in icing. This table was the "icing" table where we did the work. We also found that fruit rollups make great wise men robes (see the men in red).Tracing a pattern in icing made a delicate angel.Here we are working at the icing table. Sugar cones make great trees, as you can see the process beginning on the right. Also, the shepherd boy (also known as the little drummer boy as you'll see in later pictures) is getting his blue garment.Notice the shepherds, Mary in blue, and the yellow icing lining for the wise men robes. Also note the trees in the background.A close up of Mary. She looked like an Eskimo until we added the white icing lining. :>In the background, you'll notice that we're redoing the camels to be more decorative. Our inspiration came from My Bible Friends . Also note the pretzel crosses drying. We wanted to have a bit of foreshadowing in our nativity scene.Here the camels are a little farther along and we've added bracing to the shepherds and Mary and Joseph so they stand up.Next we started working on the shed. We thought ivy climbing up the side would be a nice touch.Ivy wouldn't be complete without leaves.Or flowers.See the close up of the icing ivy and flowers.Finally we began to arrange the pieces on the wooden platform. Here's the wise men.And a close up - notice the mint presents hanging on his back.And a couple pictures of how we'd arrange the nativity scene.Finally, we transported it to the church. See the installation process .Before taking it all to the church, we laid out the nativity scene several ways trying to find the best fit.Here's a lot of sheep! Notice that the other characters aren't finished yet.More sheep and other pieces. Plus the big barn just built.After unloading at the church, we helped Kim Amor put up the backdrops she drew. They added the finishing touch.Here we are laying out the background. Still need the brown sugar sand and lots more hay. See the finished pictures !Here's a picture of the whole window with a wide view. Notice the great backdrop by Kim Amor.A close up of the parking lot. Powdered sugar added the finishing touches.Notice the usual little jam up of cars where many people drop off loved ones before going to park. Nice view of the wreaths above the windows too.We are particularly proud of the purple (it's black in real life) jolly rancher satellite dish.Here's another close up. Note the tiny lamps beside the doors too. Icing!Another wreath - and notice the garland hanging from the sides of the church too.A teal candy race car represents our senior pastor's teal vehicle.A close up of the circle side entrance.Close up of the parking lot.Close up of the wreath and a stained glass window.And one final view. Be sure to see it in person this Christmas season if you can. Visit our events and news page to see what Christmas concerts or Sabbath services you'd like to attend!Here's almost the full view. Click on the camels for close up pictures of each one.Here's a close up of the camels and wise men.Hidden behind the wisemen is a green grassy (coconut) hill with a very special message. This was inspired by the Nov. 24 children's story. Listen to it if you'd like!The finished and hanging angel.And finally, the star. Be sure to see it in person this Christmas season if you can. Visit our events and news page to see what Christmas concerts or Sabbath services you'd like to attend!At first we thought we'd make the people out of candy. Here's a tootsie roll head.We thought these could be the wisemen. But their heads were pretty heavy and didn't harden well enough to be strong.Here's some shepherd bodies and heads sleeping on "hay" pillows. We thought this might work, with flattened tootsie rolls as clothes. They would be kneeling so that's why there aren't any legs.See the green and purple shepherd behind? Not quite proportional for the manger, and a wee bit tacky, we thought. So we scrapped the idea for gingerbread people .When decorating the camels, we thought a patriotic camel might be fun considering recent events. But we decided to keep the nativity scene focused on the real story. Still, we had to get a picture! Be sure to see the process of what we really did make for the nativity !
