The Gingerbread House

Every year since Kiddo was small we've done a gingerbread house.  They've gotten much better since I took a cake decorating class and learned to use a piping bag correctly!  They also get better as the boys get older.

I suppose I could do lots of research into the myriad forms of gingerbread and the correct one for construction, but the fact is every year when the Christmas stuff goes on sale (around Halloween, these days) I pick up a kit for around $8.  Here's the results this year!

All the candy came with the kit except for the chips.  I picked up chocolate, cinnamon, and buttercotch chips for cookies, and Junior put them in the swirls on the roof.  Kiddo was the artistic director on the shutters and gumdrop "shrubberies", and personally added the rooftop gumdrops.