The making of a Gingerbread house

Making a gingerbread house has been a tradition of Leif and mine since we were married seven year ago.  Each year our designs got a bit more complex, each year we learned a new trick or technique, and each year we always impressed ourselves in the end.  (Oh, and each year we got into an argument about something; each year someone can burning hot sugar dripped on their fingers; and each year someone cursed – alot ---- but to really think of those things really sucks out the Christmas spirit of the tradition). 

Here’s a look at gingerbread houses of the past.  (We didn’t build one last year since we were in Florida for Christmas).

This was our first one.  It was simple, yet for our first – probably our biggest challenge.  The snow you see along the top, that’s there for purposes of cover about a 2 inch gap in our roof.

We did this little ski chalet in Norway.  A very aggressive move for a second year.  Do you have any idea how hard it is so roll a nice, thin sheet of gingerbread in one piece to accommodate those big, long pieces!

We were quite proud of this farmhouse design.  The picture doesn’t give the wrap -around porch its due justice. 

This was a house modeled after an SOS Children’s Village International house.  Its an organization that provides loving homes to orphaned and abandoned children in over 500 villages in 132 countries.  The design looks fairly simple, but with 5 sides, it makes for a very tricky roof.  Campbelle helped decorate this house.  (Oh and all our houses have God Jul written on the back side of them.  It is Norwegian for Merry Christmas – and to be frank, much shorter and easier to write out with frosting).

We got really fancy this year.  Glass windows – with actual lights inside.  Rice krispie trees.   A dusting of powered sugar that looked like real snow.  This house, however, had some structural deficiencies – sadly it collapsed after a few days.

This year, after having taken the previous year of house making off, we knew we had to do something big, something remarkable.  We’ve made a great effort to become a more ‘green’ family this past year, and so we thought our house should represent that as well.  So I unveil before you our 2008 Gingerbread house…. based (rather loosely) on the Smart House exhibit at the Museum and Science and Industry in Chicago, an LED certified, fully sustainable, complete with solar panels, green, living roof, drought resistant plants, an open–air atrium, 2500 square feet, contemporary setting  ………drum roll please…..

The Gingerbread Solarium 

And yes, that’s a hybrid car parked in the garage.