The smell of gingerbread....

When I think of Christmas, one of the things that comes to mind is baking...the smell of gingerbread filling the air, aromatically heavy with molasses and cinnamon. Of course we can't eat everything that we bake, so what should we do? Let's build houses out of it! It all started with a kit. My friend Sidona gave it to me. VERY cute with a little book, cutters, piping bags ~ the whole shebang! My friend Teresa and I decided to have a house building party for family home evening. I baked the gingerbread and provided the candy while she brought pizza and pop.

While the kids ate, Randy and Shon started to assemble the houses. Instead of trying to get them to stay together with frosting, we used liquid sugar ~ created by melting it on the stove. (Thanks for the tip Sidona!) It works so well, no walls or roofs sliding off at in inopportune times. So, the concept was simple, but there was a great deal of hilarity involved as Teresa and I challenged Shon and Randy to see who could build the better house. As a team Teresa and I were great, but the one I build on my own, pretty much insured that Shon won't ask me to do any house repairs. :-) .

Let the contest begin boys!

What do you think? Mine is the one on the right, yeah, the one with the hole in it...I was going for the air conditioned type...That's the one Joey gallantly insisted on using. He thought it looked kind of like a lemon aid stand. Good try honey. The sugar is hot, but really is slick for getting the houses together quickly. Kind of like edible hot glue! :-)

After that it was all about the candy. We left the kids to it while the adults visited in the living room. It was funny to see all of the different creations they could come up with by using the same materials! First up is Joey. (12) His was sort of a space age creation...

Next is Ben (7) His gingerbread man is hanging on for dear life....

Lucy (3) managed to eat pizza, use frosting (pink of course) and decorate all without getting anything on her fancy dress!

Alex (14) went the traditional route, using lots of gummi's and dots.

Toby (8) used Necco's and M 'n' M's to create a tower...

Lissie (11) went with the popular theory that "more" is more when it comes to gingerbread houses and piled it on! :-)

Natalie (10) made both a beautiful pattern and a family! All in all it was a great way to start Christmas vacation!