Gingerbread houses

It was our first year making gingerbread houses with the girls and if I had known how much candy and icing they would actually eat, and how incredibly crazy all that candy would make them later I might have put this activity off until they were 10. Or just skipped it and told them to try it when they have kids of their own. It was pretty fun though and brought back a lot of memories of doing this in my mom's mom's kitchen. Grandma 'R' and her three girls and the grand kids all in the tiny kitchen assembling our gingerbread version of Santa's workshop, house, sleigh, reindeer, presents, stained-glass windows and all. Downstairs in his workshop my grandpa was busy constructing the box all the gingerbread would sit on with holes placed under each house for lights to poke through and illuminate the houses from within. It was elaborate and delicious and one of my best childhood memories. So, I suppose we'll go ahead and do this again next year.
The final work of art!