It’s Beginning to SMELL a lot like Christmas!

In late November I was at Mount Vernon.  I always try to take a tour of the Mansion and then refresh my Washington knowledge by meandering through the Educational Center and Museum.  The smell of Christmas was in the air!  I followed my nose to the hallway near the gift shop.  There, looking like Santa’s busy elves, were two chefs working feverishly on a gingerbread house—or rather a Mount Vernon Gingerbread House!  I was mesmerized as they used a circular saw to cut large slabs of the crispy brown cookie.  “When right before my wondering eyes” appeared the famous piazza that faces the Potomac.    Although I scrutinized their “lively and quick movements” as they attached the roof of the porch, I still cannot figure out how it did not collapse in a sugar-filled lump!  As I stood there with my mouth open in amazement at the creation, the Former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier smiled and “how his eyes twinkled.”  I had to leave before the miniature Mount Vernon was finished but every night “as I lay sleeping all snug in my bed, visions of a Gingerbread Mount Vernon dance through my head.”

Speaking of dessert, we are planning to have the Second Annual George Washington Birthday Cake Contest. 

1. Two categories
   1. 3^rd through 5^th grades
   2. 6^th through 8^th  grades
   3.  Each class (NOT individual students and NOT multiple classes together) creates a FAKE birthday cake (made out of Styrofoam or some light materials-NO edible materials) that reflects George Washington.  This means the cake could represent his whole life or just his presidency or his time as Commander of the Continental Army or????  The entire cake (with all decorations) must be NO larger than 3 feet in height and 3 feet in width.
   4. Send up to three digital pictures of the creation with a 200-word (or less) description of what the cake represents to jmcclaren@mountvernon.org  by January 29.  Please include the name of your teacher, the grade level, the name of your school, and the school’s phone number.  You will receive a confirmation within 32 hours that your pictures were received.
   5. Cakes will be judged on: Reflects Washington’s life (50 pts), creativity & artistic quality (20 pts), the 200-word paper reflects the cake (20 pts), overall impression (10 pts).
   6. The top 3 cakes from each category will be selected and those six cakes are to be taken to the OKSDE Social Studies & Fine Arts Conference to be held at Southmoore High School located at 2901 South Santa Fe.   The cakes will be on display during the Conference.  Each of the finalist’s teachers will receive a $30 gas card to defray the cost of bringing the cake to the event.  Cakes are to be taken home at the end of the conference—no exceptions.
   7. The conference attendees will vote for one winner from each category (3^rd thru 5^th and 6^th thru 8^th).   Each of those winners will receive a George Washington Birthday Party Celebration in their classroom on the afternoon of either the 23^rd or 25^th of February.

If you have any questions, please email Jan McClaren at <jmcclaren@mountvernon.org>

Last Year's Winning Birthday Cakes

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 10:50 pm and is filed under George Washington. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.