Gingerbread Houses

The kids and I have been moving through many fun "Christmas-y" projects this season. We've done light-seeing (several times), decorating, making cards and envelopes, baking and decorating gingerbread men, making ornaments for friends, and today we checked 'Gingerbread House' off of our list.

I am so not crafty. I love to do crafts, but my ability to pull them off is very limited. When it comes to the kitchen, the story is the same. I've seen several gingerbread kits in the past (I know you didn't think I'd tackle making one from scratch...), but I'd never seen anything but shoddy construction results: icing not holding, candies weighing down the roof, etc. I picked up a kit at Target last week, one that contained enough for five small houses rather than one big one to argue over.

When I pulled it out after school today, I warned the kids that sometimes these things don't work as well as we might hope. I told them it would be fun regardless, but to not get upset if a house collapsed due to it's own weight. (One of the children has a more difficult time accepting events that don't occur as planned or expected, so it's always best to warn him, uhhh, or her, beforehand.)

Upon opening the package we discovered two pieces that were already broken: awesome start. At least that made it easier to divide the houses evenly, right? When I finally broke open the white icing (it was really difficult.....another sign, I thought), I went to work putting one of the kid's houses together so it could dry and they could decorate. Immediately my mood brightened because the icing stuck and HELD from the moment I applied it. It was even better than hot glue! Maybe it had to do with the houses being smaller and not as heavy, but this project went off without a hitch. The kids had a blast decorating with gumdrops and little candy balls and colored icing. No arguing, no complaining, just smiles and laughter...kinda amazing. I will definitely attempt this project again next year. As long as I can find the same awesome green box at Target, that is.