Gingerbread Houses

On Thanksgiving afternoon the kids got to sit down and decorate gingerbread houses! Okay, so they were actually cardboard houses pre-hot-glued by Grandma (SO much more practical than real gingerbread or graham crackers), but they were fabulous! So yeah, this may have been a more Christmasey craft, but we didn't get around to making the cute pilgrim craft that Grandma had also come up with. Somehow candy always comes first!

The kids all enjoyed being creative and decorating their houses. Dallin put a big trampoline in his "backyard."

I think I most enjoyed squirting dots of frosting onto Avery's house and watching her select ONLY the red and green M&M's and delicately placing them on her house with her little fingers. She always made sure to get a little frosting on herself with each candy and had a nice frosting-face going with all the licking. 

 Finished masterpieces!

I'm sure a quick Google would supply you with some truly amazing gingerbread creations, but I am particularly fond of the following piece done at Christmas time by my Dad and some assorted siblings a few years back:

This authentic graham cracker behemoth is actually a model (to-scale if I know my Dad at all) of my parents' new house that they were in the early stages of building at the time. The fact that it was made from graham crackers and royal frosting should give you a taste of the quality, detail, and workmanship that went into the real thing! I took these photos in June when some of the candy had started melting in the summer heat and they finally had to throw it out!