Building a house for the holidays

The girls and Tom were looking at gingerbread kits the other day in the store, but they then decided that they could do it freehand with their own ingredients. A few twenty bills later they sat down last night to begin the construction.

It was a real toss-up on the goodies. Some stuff we had like the marshmallows, the toffee bits, the sprinkles, and the colored sugar. The other stuff had to be purchased. That was a chore. Because they couldn't decide what they liked the best. In the end, they went with Andes peppermint bits, chocolate chips, red hots, and Andes mint bits.

They also talked me into fruit Twizzlers and candy canes and in sampling the goodies. Or maybe I volunteered for that job. Who can remember? I can say the Andes peppermint chips and the fruit Twizzlers are some of the nastiest sugar I have put into my mouth.

Construction began in the early evening with graham crackers and vanilla icing. Madison was the architect since she had gingerbread house building experience having done this for the last three years at the school's holiday party. The other two were her crew and they lived up to the perception of construction workers - they took many breaks and ate a lot of the materials.

Once the base of the house was complete, the girls used some of the goodies to make gingerbread women...

...and wreaths.

By midnight the icing had dried and the house was ready for decorating. The girls put chocolate chips and red hots all along the roof before I made them stop to clean up for the night. They left the house sitting out all night...

...and awoke this morning to find the roof had collapsed. They are headed back to the drawing board today after homework has been completed. Pictures to follow...