Gingerbread Houses.

We bought the gingerbread house kits from Ikea to decorate the day after Thanksgiving with our extended family (the Hammonds) while they were in town.  However, we ended up having too much fun sitting around talking and eating to get around to the decorating.  I did pick up a great tip that I ended up using when we did get around to decorating--we hot glued the houses together, then we decorated them!  No holding the walls and roof while the icing dried, no sliding walls--perfectly square houses.

But that is where the fun ended (for Chris anyway).  It was Christmas Eve day and just as I opened the kits and saw that they only contained the gingerbread walls and roofs--no icing, no decorations--so I had to send Chris off to the store to buy meringue powder to make stiff icing.  After two stores, he found it and we got down to business decorating.  We raided our candy cupboard for decorating supplies.

Our hot-glued houses.

Stella's gingerbread house.  I piped the icing, she put all the candy in place.  Ok, I helped with the M&M's on the roof--it was taking so long the icing was drying out!

Presley's gingerbread house.  Again, I piped the icing but she really did do all the decorating herself.

My hands were too crusty and sticky from piping icing on the houses while the girls decorated that I didn't get to take any photos of the girls "in-action".  But Presley did say, "This is the most fun ever Mom!", so I know they were having a good time.

Clean up, a bath, naps--then off to Grandma and Grandpa Simons house for Christmas Eve!