Gingerbread Plans, or how we made Hansel and Gretel's house

We changed it up a bit this year. Sissy and I have been making the same style gingerbread house for years.


Lots of years.


But this year I got it in my head to make a different style house. A Swiss chalet, to be exact.


Kind of reminds me of a cross between Hansel and Gretel's house and a house we used to rent at the beach when we were very young.


Let's just say it wasn't my most thought out idea.

Oh, these pictures make it look so easy putting these houses together. 

It wasn't. 

The angles were hard to work with. They didn't want to hold each other up at all.

As a matter of fact, they were very uncooperative.

They kept wanting to fall. Away from each other. 

And the roofs. Ack.

They started caving in under the weight of the candy. Some of us put more weight on our roofs  than others. Those caved in more. But they didn't break. And they stopped sagging at some point and are now holding their own.

Sissy wasn't too happy with me for changing things around. She kept muttering things like, "What were you thinking?" and "We're not doing this again EVER. We're going back to the regular houses next year," and "I'm not listening to you again."

Poor Other Sissy and my niece, M, came to do gingerbreads with us.

They didn't know what they had gotten themselves into. 

Somehow, it all came together.

Just like I knew it would.

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You gotta have faith, Sissy.

I didn't do anything to our house this year, except bake the pieces a few days before with Sissy.

K did all the piping, and designing, and decorating. 

And all the sass.

Yes, she does all the sass around here.

The front of P's house. 

I love the "Merry Christmas" over the front door.

Don't be surprised if this photo shows up on a Christmas card next year. 

I love it so.

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What we learned:

Don't mess with success.....next year we're going back to the standard house design.

Don't be afraid to try something new.....it was hard work at first, but it all turned out in the end.

It takes a lot to make something go from bending to breaking.....things are stronger than they look.

Don't shop for candy on an empty stomach.....well, you can guess why that's been included.