The Gingerbread House

Do you remember being little in Preschool and one of your holiday activities was to make a Gingerbread house?   Where you had a parent or a grandparent come to school to help you build it?  I do......and it was years ago.   The last and only time I have ever made a Gingerbread house was with my Papa in Preschool.  It was one of my first memories of him.  We were sitting at our wood table, sitting side by side working on my Gingerbread house.   I remember eating the candy and laughing with him rather than decorating my house.  We spent so much time eating and chatting that we had to rush to finish as much as we could before school was over.  

I have never been good at arts and crafts and I realized that right from the start of Preschool.   But that didn't matter.   That day was one of the best days with my Papa because it was just me and him spending quality time together alone which rarely ever happened.   I felt so cool to have my Papa with me and will never forget that special day. 

Gingerbread is a baked sweet containing ginger and sometimes cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom and anise, and sweetened with any combination of brown sugar, molasses, light or dark corn syrup, or honey.

The Gingerbread house became popular in Germany after the Brothers Grimm published their fairy tale collection which included "Hansel and Gretel" in the 19th century.   Early German settlers brought this lebkuchenhaeusle - gingerbread house - tradition to the Americas. 

Karin surprised me last night with a Gingerbread House Kit that she bought from Jewel and we could not wait to make it.  After 45 minutes of little talking and tons of focus we completed our Gingerbread House.   We even added our own special candy decorations.   Covered our lawn with marshmallows, built the front stones our of an almond and chocolate Hershey bar.  We were so proud of our creation and even treated ourselves to eating the leftover candy.   I forgot how much I enjoyed doing things like this.   Even if it is childish and seems like a silly thing to do as an adult, I beg to differ.  Sometimes we need to do silly activities like this.   I cannot believe that this was my second Gingerbread House I have ever made.   I am hoping me and Karin can make this an annual tradition, since that makes the holiday's so special.

What is your favorite Christmas memory?   When was the last time you built a Gingerbread House?

"An I had but one penny in the world, thou should'st have it to buy ginger-bread." William Shakespeare, Love's Labours Lost