Christmas Gingerbread House

A Christmas Gingerbread House is a family tradition that I remember going right back to my own childhood years.  My mum used to make us a gingerbread house all decorated with lollies (candy) and she also used to make several extras to give away as gifts to family and friends.  They were something quite special and it wasn't like today where you see gingerbread houses in all the stores, back then you had to make your own.

This tradition is something that I have carried through for my own family and it is something my children look forward to each Christmas.  I've had some great years where I cut out the gingerbread pieces and assemble the house and decorate it and everything turns out perfectly, but I also remember one year when we had a particularly hot summer and my gingerbread house was a complete disaster - the walls kept sliding down and the roof caving in, nothing seemed to set hard like it was supposed to.  That year we had to be especially careful when eating it because the walls and roof were all held together with toothpicks and pins!!

 

So once again it is getting near to Christmas and time to make another Gingerbread House!

 

Last year I attempted something a little different and for the first time didn't bake my own Gingerbread, instead I went along to the school where my children attend and joined over 100 other ladies for an evening of decorating gingerbread houses made from kits.  I enjoyed it so much that this year I went along and took two of my daughters with me.

 

 

Imagine a large room full of women and young girls, gingerbread house kits and tables loaded full with colourful candy and you can picture what a fun evening this was!! 

 

Sorting the candy into colours, ready for decorating.  My daughter's eyes lit up, she has never seen such large quantities of candy to choose from and she especially loved that she could pick and choose whatever she wanted.

I think her method for decorating was to put on as much candy as possible!

 

And these are our finished Gingerbread Houses

 

 

I love that we go home with a completed gingerbread house, all wrapped up and ready for Christmas!