A few weeks ago, I got an email at work announcing that my company was having a Gingerbread House contest. They would provide the gingerbread kit and all we had to do was decorate them. There were a few rules like you can’t buy or make more gingerbread, you don’t have to make a house, entries were due by 9am today (Dec. 15th), and that was pretty much it. So, of course I signed up. After all, how hard could it be…hehehe.
So, a few weeks ago, I received a standard gingerbread house kit and a larger deluxe gingerbread house kit. I immediately began to think about what I wanted to create…one big house, a house with an attached garage, a house with a detached garage, Santa’s house and workshop…the possibilities were almost endless. I finally decided on a house and detached garage after realizing an attached garage would require me to seriously cut up my gingerbread pieces. Next I had to decided on how to decorate it. Should I go the craft route and use all candy or should I go the artistic route and use fondant and icing. I decided to go the craft route and make a traditionally candy gingerbread house.
Now, most people would probably start putting their house together as soon as possible. Notice I said most people. For those that know me, you know I don’t follow this rule. Why do something ahead of time when you can wait to the last minute and stay up all night to get it done. (Remember the lighthouse project Mom?) So I planned on starting my house this past Friday. Well, turns out, Rocky and I experienced a life changing event on Friday and as a result, we did not get started on the house Saturday morning as planned. Notice the change in person here. This has gone from I/me to we/us. Yes, Rocky has been selected (by a committee of one no less) to participate in this event with me.
We quickly learned that when making a gingerbread house, a trip to Wal-Mart is almost required. Although kits come with candy sufficient for decorating a gingerbread house, I felt certain that more suitable candy was waiting at the local Wally World. We actually made our first visit on Friday night around 10pm. We made our 2nd visit around midnight Saturday and our 3rd visit around 1am Sunday morning. Not to mention I sent Rocky back at lunch on Monday. So 4 trips later, I know have enough candy to decorate our actual house on Cobblestone Lane, should the desire ever hit me.
Now, I’ll skip over all the gory details and get to the part where I tell you what I learned about gingerbread houses. I’ll make a list to help this go by more quickly:
- They are a TON of work.
- They need 24 hours to dry to become sturdy enough to decorate.
- Icing doesn’t stick on contact. It must be held in place way too long for my taste.
- Rocky has a short attention span.
- You can easily cut holes in gingerbread and trim pieces down to size if necessary.
- Icing doesn’t last very long. I ended making 4 batches from the kits and about 4 more batches from my pantry.
- Too much icing can make you sick.
- Just because the package says the candy is green doesn’t necessarily mean your bag includes green pieces.
- Rocky will try anything to get out of decorating.
- Gingerbread houses are a TON of work. I know I mentioned this already but it’s worth repeating.
Long story short, we ended up with a nice gingerbread house that was wired with lights and sound. And at the end of the night, Rocky and I still loved each other, regardless of what the neighbors heard or the Police report said (just kidding).
PS. If anyone wants to give us a Christmas gift, Maid service for the kitchen would be much appreciated. I bet there is powdered sugar in places where there never should be.
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