Gingerbread House Day

Did you know this past Saturday was Gingerbread House Day? (Apparently it isn't important enough to be considered a National or International "holiday" {who comes up with them or deems them 'worthy' anyway?!}, but a day nonetheless ;))

We were both pretty proud of our creations. Doesn't Ryan's sort of look like a face?! 

You may not know this, but I wear many hats at the running store I work at. One of them is to fill out our calendar. Seeing as there are currently no races/events, the monthly calendar (since April) has turned into a list of random food 'holidays'. 

Last year the hubby and I actually grabbed gingerbread house kits (tiny homes - they were so cute and cheap ;)), so when I saw it on the calendar you know I had to tell the hubby it was time to bust out the boxes and get our creativity on. 

I mean, how stinkin' cute is that?!

#RealTalk - We normally do this every year and turn it into a competition of sorts. We both decorate our own gingerbread house (from identical kits, limited to what is included in the boxes... we are unable to bring in outside accoutrements to 'spice' up the design) and then send pictures to some family/ friends to vote on the winner. I sorta love this silly tradition!

So Saturday afternoon we poured some drinks (pineapple-coconut nectar with pineapple rum... not totally a winter drink, but we live in SoCal, so give us a break ;)), got everything we thought we'd need and pumped up the Christmas jams.

And, seeing as it was a Saturday afternoon, we obviously had to have college football on in the background too!

Well, let's just say that saving a few extra dollars might not have been all it was cracked up to be because the frosting (aka the glue that is meant to hold the whole structure together) was pretty rock hard, the fondant we were supposed to use for some of the accents was crumbling apart and the icing for the roof had chunks in it... but, like I try to remind the hubby whenever something unexpected comes up, "it's all part of the fun and adventure!". We did our best with what we had (putting the frosting bags in hot water to try and make them softer, microwaving some of the icing to make it a bit more spreadable, etc) and in the end it wasn't too terrible. [PRO TIP - If you are going to buy the kits when they go on sale and save them for the future, pick up a tub of new frosting when you're ready to have on hand in case it's needed.]

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

If you looked at the top image (or if you know our personalities), you've probably figured out who's is whos, but we still put a poll out to the social media world to see who was going to win. In the end, it wasn't even close, but we both had a blast!

And, if truth be told, the debacle of the less-than-perfect building materials helped to solidify the memory that much more, so you better believe come December 26th I'll have my eyes peeled for some sale gingerbread kits ;)

Do you build gingerbread houses?