The Gingerbread house.

The making of the gingerbread house is one Christmas tradition that quite frankly... is a pain. I first tried to talk the elves out of making the gingerbread house this year, but they were not on board. Next, I thought I had solved the problem of the bickering elves by purchasing a kit with three gingerbread houses, so each elf could have their own to decorate. Turned out, it was just a great marketing ploy and I fell for it. The kit only had ONE house, but showed THREE different ways to decorate the houses. Apparently, in my glee over solving the inevitable arguments between the elves, who have rather strong decorating opinions, I didn't read the label carefully enough.

So it was with a rather rocky start and several discussions about "attitude" that we began the making of the annual gingerbread house. We mixed the frosting a tad-bit too thick, which made it very uncooperative and darn near impossible to work with. It set up so fast that the elves had to quickly press the candies in or they just fell off the house.The first born elf created this side of the gingerbread house.

Complete with shutters and a flower bed.

The second born elf designed this side of the gingerbread house. She incorporated a wreath and two windows.
The second born elf also made this little marshmallow snowman with candy-skis.

In the end, the elves were actually pretty cooperative and proud of their creation. I might even be talked into helping them again next year. {maybe}