The Gingerbread House Project

39/365

For years and years I used to think, "awww look how cute those Gingerbread Houses are, I should really do that project with my grandkids".  Well, the truth of it is I HATE don't really enjoy doing crafts and every time I thought of doing the project I quickly put it out of my mind.  And it was easy to do that because I never mentioned it to the kids, so they weren't expecting it.  

Then last year (2013) I took the plunge.  I didn't make the gingerbread but I did make the goop to hold the house together.  It was my first time and it was almost a FAIL.  I purchased the graham crackers and all the candy to use for decorations.  The kids were great even though the crackers kept breaking and the goop was almost too thick & stiff to use well.  The results:  pretty good.  And they had a great time.

This year I mentioned to the kids that we could do the houses again, but I kept putting it off hoping they had forgotten.  Well....no such luck.  I found out that at least one of them kept wondering when we would do the houses.  So I was convicted and humbled.  I had made a promise, of sorts, so I had to keep it.

I certainly didn't want to go through the effort of making the goop again, so I set out to look for kits.  They're so stinkin' expensive, but I managed to find a place that was running a sale.  Throwing financial caution to the wind, I bought three kits.  There!  That was done.

I made a date with the kids (no easy feat considering their busy social lives) and we got to the job of putting the gingerbread houses together yesterday, a mere 4 days before Christmas.  They were so good about it.  So creative.  Each one was different from the others.  It's such a blessing to see that they have their own minds/opinions/creativity and that they don't need to depend on each other for ideas.  They inspire each other, but they march to their own drummers.

The final results.  

I'm free for about 363 days!