The Gingerbread Houses

It is a longstanding tradition in the family of Dr. Peds to make gingerbread houses during Christmas vacation, and give them away to people in the church and community.  It is one of my favorite family activities; I've loved it ever since I was included the first Christmas we were dating.  It's a sugar fiesta:  bowls and bowls of candy in every variety lined up on the table, batches and batches of frosting.  For the most part, everyone is too busy creating to actually do a lot of eating, which is a very good thing.  It also helps that the spare candy is saved from year to year, so the candy in the bowl you are using might be three years old, which makes it far less tempting even to a three year old.  

Over the years, things get quite competitive between the grown ups taking part in the house building.  My sister-in-law, Dot, has quite the reputation of winning the most creative construction award each year.  I thought long and hard about what kind of house I would make this year, since we were visiting over the holidays.  I couldn't come up with any good ideas at all.  Finally, it was Ya Ya, with her super creative mind, that came up with the idea of a tree house.  I decided it might be just the thing to give Dot a run for her money.  I knew I was in trouble when Dot came in the door toting milk cartons of every size and shape to make her "mansion."  

My tree house was precariously wobbly, but it managed to stay standing until the next morning when I tripped down the last stairs carrying it to the gallery of houses in the basement.    

Here is my very pregnant competition:

Here is her finished house:

We sent pictures to Auntie Amy Texas, and let her be the judge.  I haven't heard back about the verdict yet.  

The kidlets had a marvelous time creating their houses as well.  There were lots and lots and lots of cousins to share the task with.  They worked long and diligently, and I love the results.

The birthday girl builds her house.

Mr. Sneaky Pants was all about stacking a large pile of pretzel firewood in front of his house.  He wanted to make sure the inhabitants were very prepared for cold weather.  He even came into the room I was working on my house in and convinced me to make a small pile of firewood at the base of my treehouse.  He loved running the frosting tube all by himself.  More frosting came out the top of the tube than the bottom where it was supposed to, but he had a wonderful time.  &
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