Holiday Sweetness

As far as family traditions go, we have few.  Actually, I think we really only have two.  And they both have to do with building.  Funny.

This weekend we built our annual gingerbread house.  We meant to build it during the Thanksgiving holiday, but didn't managed to squeeze it in.  I finally got around to making the dough and the templates for the house.  We had a nice assortment of candies to choose from.  The kids were so eager to decorate it.

We started with snow caps on the roof.  Annie ate a few instead of putting them on the roof.  She also licked a few and stuck them on there...

Gumdrops adorn the lawn with gummy bears acting as garden gnomes.  The door and windows are lining with M&M's.  (Funny side note: Orry made sure that all the "M"s faced up and were oriented correctly.)  Isaac insisted that there be a wicked witch looking out the window.  I don't know who told him the tale of Hansel and Gretel, but he seems to be in the know.  Here's our end product:

The kids had a fun time making it and today they had a great time eating it.  I'm not placing any bets on how long the house will last, but my guess is that with Troy around, it won't be for long.  

(If anyone is interested in making their own gingerbread house, I strongly encourage you to do so!  No need for a store bought kit.  I found an easy gingerbread recipe in a holiday cookie book that I have.  The recipe makes 4 dozen cookies or so and there was plenty for our small house.  Making the templates can be easy too.  You can get them online or draw them up yourself.   Be sure to bake the pieces and little longer to make sure they are hard and will make a sturdier house. This year we took a short cut and bought ready made icing.  And if you want to get fancy, you can make actual windows in your house by using broken up hard candies that melt to make the window panes.)