A Harrowing Tale of Gingerbread

Have you ever built a Gingerbread house?  It looks so simple, doesn’t it?  I once tried, thinking, how hard can this be?  After reading a list of ingredients, gathering them together, which included a crap ton of candiliciousness, I anticipated all the fun it would be.  About two hours later I sat defeated amongst a pile of debris, icing in my hair, broken graham cracker cookies everywhere and a scowl permanently on my face. 

Here’s what I envisioned:

 

Here’s what I ended up making:

 

Actually I didn't get even this far because instead of using real gingerbread sheets, I opted for gingerbread cookies.

Fail.

After this I vowed never to try my hand at this particular task again. 

Fast forward practically 15 years into the future...

Several weeks ago my boss suggested we have a team building activity making gingerbread houses.  That’s today.  We’ve been split into groups of 3 and the kits have been provided with the ‘okay’ that we can bring in whatever else we wish to ‘add on’ to our master creations.

The group of 3 I’m apart of consists of two guys and moi, and um…okay I won’t lie, I was a bit worried.  Again past defeats have haunted me therefore I was not looking forward to round 2.  Still making the best of it as I could, we gathered together for one of many pre-meetings and pow-wowed.   I was pleased that the other two were as geeked out about this as myself.  Actually, maybe not as much as I, but close.  We put our noggins together and came up with a plan, a list of supplies born from all that effort which was quickly split up amongst all as to who will get what and we strategized a lot.  

In a few short minutes we’ll go upstairs for the 2 hour challenge.  I’ll show pictures once we’re done and I’m sure…it will be stunning.

Off I go!

Okay back and it’s been about 2.5 hours. 

Yes, there were plenty of broken pieces of this and that, royal icing was everywhere (including my hair again which I cannot for the life of me figure out how), a few decapitations of elves on a shelf (don’t ask), and a lot of smack talkin’ between the teams…we here at work are pretty competitive.  Things were borrowed, snatched and some were outright stolen.  The glares were thrown and the Christmas music in the background continued to lend an air of good cheer.  Possibly because we’d been working so hard (you know the real type of work) this stress reliever was welcome. 

Below are pictures of the end product from my team (psst, it's a barn, in case you didn't 'get it':

Santa sorta looks like he's creepin' off with some stolen merchandise, don't he?  The piping is abysmal but hey, never said I was a pastry chef :|

Sorta excited about the fence although I suppose we could have made more.  I adore the silo!

The reason for the cut outs in the window was to put lights inside and have them 'glowing warmly' out into the 'yard'.  There is a small light in there but you can't see it and unfortunately it's in the back and not in the front.  Please also note the pile of cut wood :)

Birds eye view, please also take note of the snow <3

 

It's entitled "Christmas in Connecticut".  See the barn and silo?  Isn't it neat?  I mean, it's not a pile of broken rubble which is what I'm glad about and we actually finished the damn thing, a fact I'm over the moon thrilled over.  And the biggest hurdle?  We had to transport it from the 6th floor back down to the 3rd.  The silo tilted slightly but a finger strategically placed kept it upright.

I am proud of our creation and whether it wins or loses is irrelevant, I'm proud of our efforts.

Maybe I'll try to make one at home now?  I'll have to think about it but may I suggest you gather the young'uns and try this for yourself?  Total hoot and the memories are worth keeping.

Happy Holidays!