Elizabeth's Gingerbread House

Meet Elizabeth Marie, the next generation in our immediate family! She is daughter of Chris and Kendra, granddaughter of my sister Jan, and grandniece of me. She is also great-grandniece to Dorothy, and niece and cousin to a number of people! Before her great-grandparents, Bruce and Mary, passed away, she was the light of their lives. In other words, she is our Shining Star, nothing less.

Yesterday Lizzie came over after school and we had some fun. To keep it simple at this busy time, I picked up a gingerbread house kit at Target. I wanted to make this project easy, quick and inexpensive. It was all of those things! It held the interest of an eight-year-old and wasn't tricky at all for me.

First you lay out the pieces, which were all intact and unbroken. Notice that as well as the sides, ends and roof pieces, there are three cookies and a chimney piece to begin with! This is important to take note of. Because...

Oops!! Elizabeth was hungry for a gingerbread cookie, so...down went the snowman. There really were only two holes to stand up the cookies in, so she selected the gingerbread man and the tree to keep. The other tasted really good, she said! I was pleasantly surprised, because many children don't really like the taste of gingerbread or the cookies as they are not used to the different spices.

At this point the house is almost completed, and Elizabeth is adding the finishing flourishes. She was very careful to not disturb the frosting which is holding the pieces together while it set. We actually let the house rest for fifteen minutes before adding the last candies, so the frosting could begin to harden. The frosting is very easy to work with, and tasty, too! (There were a few boo-boos that needed to be wiped away, so we sneaked in a taste or two :D) There were just enough candies included in the box to cover the house. We added a few little marshmallows just for fun.

Elizabeth, you did a wonderful job! Perhaps next week, we'll try decorating some cookies...