Gingerbread House

Thanks for the blog anniversary wishes, guys! I celebrated by making a gingerbread house. (Okay, the two had nothing to do with each other.)

I thought about baking my own gingerbread, but it seemed like a crime to use real ingredients to make something that would be delicious but never eaten. So I went the route of the pre-shaped, pre-baked gingerbread house in a box. Pretty handy, as it came with the cement (disguised as royal icing) and candy — although I picked out just the red candies to use.

I love the look of white piping. And I enjoy decorating like this, although I can’t imagine saying I’d want to do it for a living. Professional pipers (of the icing- variety, not pan- or bag-) must have mitts of steel. The frosting we used for the cookies last week was fairly soft, but this royal icing, even when warm, was nearly impossible to get through the narrow tip. It may look pretty, but I was gritting my teeth the entire time!
The house is now in my living room, near the white Christmas tree. I feel like if I gather all the festive decorations in one corner, it’ll be a more convincing display than the occasional attempt thrown here or there. I need some sort of banister to wrap garland and lights around — Christmas lights strung over any old piece of architecture winds up feeling more ‘college dorm’ than ‘hollidazzle’. My parents’ living room is looking pretty seasonal at the moment, but my favourite part is their scaled-back tree, which is decorated almost entirely with Star Trek ornaments.