November 14th, 2017

'I would like a gumdrop roof please.'
'I would like chocolate tiles for MY roof!'
'Lets put a snowman outside! OOOO! Better yet! Lets put a Nutcracker outside! They're the bravest!'

I know I'm jumping the proverbial decorating gun a bit but remember, there is no judging here at Mary's Kitchen. The main reason it's not too early is because I am not ready for Thanksgiving. I know, I know. I recently posted a blog about some steps to take to help get ready for Thanksgiving. I'm human and don't have enough good sense to follow my own advice! So. Sue me!

The above snippets of conversation took place over icing sugar, gumdrops, chocolate, nonpareils and gingerbread; piles and piles of gingerbread. When the girls were little, we made gingerbread houses of every sort. (We made plenty that fell down and took extra batches of icing too but that will be our secret.) The older the girls got, the more intricate the houses became. We eventually made two, one for each daughter and it took days (weeks really) to wash out the icing and put away the decorations. We enlisted our dog (who at that time was a little Italian Greyhound named Mariposa) to help mop and she loved it! We always made a little Posie dog who lived in each house. We bought gingerbreadkits and also made homemade gingerbread. Since the house would just sit and collect dust, I usually opted for the kits but one year we made a party out of the baking them homemade. I made lots of house pieces ready for assembly and had our neighbor, with her daughter over and she and Lyssy made and decorated houses to their hearts content. Some of the houses we made were eaten on the spot but each girl made at least one to keep. Happy times...

Do you have a gingerbread house-making memory to share? Please do so in the comments section so we can help each other to distracted from all the things to do before Thanksgiving.

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