Gingerbread Fiasco

Don't let those smiles fool you. This year's gingerbread house experience was a bit of a disaster. It turned out okay, but in the midst of it, I had some moments of frustration that weren't pretty. I wasn't feeling like putting in all the work to mix up, cut out, and bake gingerbread this year, so when I found un-assembled houses at IKEA for $3.99 each, I snagged 5 of them.

Our neighbor Kate came over to do them with us, and I should have thought to purchase extra ones in case pieces (or whole houses) broke...but I didn't. Aubrey started out with a couple broken pieces that we were able to glue together with frosting. We got them all assembled in the morning and came back to them later that afternoon. Grant was working intently on his house when he pushed some candy onto it a little too hard, and the house fell apart, lots of pieces broken--a total mess. I tried to help him fix it, and then Greg tried, and it just kept breaking. In the end, after some not-so-proud moments on my part, we got it glued back together with lots of frosting and left it to dry overnight. Grant had a pretty good attitude about not getting to finish his house with everyone else, and the next day Kari helped him finish up, which was very sweet to see.

And then a couple days later, they ate and destroyed them. :) Lesson learned: make you own sturdy gingerbread house pieces or buy several extra IKEA houses.