Gingerbread Houses for the Lazy!

Not that my son is the lazy person in this instance. Rather, it’s me who’s the sloth. My k ids have wanted to do gingerbread houses for the last few years, and each year, Denisa and I plan on doing them. But it’s a fairly time-intensive project that requires planning and forethought. Let’s be honest–that description covers a lot of what goes on at the holidays, and there’s only so much planning and forethought I have to go around. (See  my post on why I don’t do Christmas cards for more on that.) Still, nothing like starting a new tradition that will mean I’m even more stressed in the years to come, right?

RIGHT?

So we did gingerbread houses this year. Well, technically they’re graham cracker houses, but who’s counting, right? I whipped up a batch of royal icing, and we followed this page for the basic construction. (No idea where they got such long crackers, though. It’s a mystery to me.) I did make a small alteration, using the cut scraps of cracker to construct chimneys for each house. After the houses were made, the kids had a blast adding candy to their heart’s content–although the longer they did it, the more convinced I became that this new tradition was really just a ploy by my kids to be able to eat more candy. They’re tricky like that.

Anyway–just thought I’d pass on the tip for those of you who might be contemplating a little gingerbread housing in your future. The crackers worked very nicely. Are the houses as ideal as I would have liked? No. But they’re exactly what my kids were looking for, and so mission accomplished.

And here’s a pic of my daughter with her house, just to complete the set. Have a happy Wednesday!