Gingerbread Houses...the last thread attaching you to Christmas!

Well, we were finally able to take time to put together the gingerbread house that I bought after Christmas (I always buy them after Christmas, something to do on a boring day and because I am the biggest cheapskate) Last year, we didn't have very much luck with the house. We couldn't get it together and I ended up passing out a piece of the house to each child to decorate. Once each piece was propped up, it looked like a village. This year, it was a little better :)

Why do they include the plastic icing piping bag?! Once you put the toothpaste textured icing into the bag, it seals shut like cement. I was afraid to get any icing on my hand with the fear I would be attached to the dining room table for a week! We ended up just using a knife, it was more practical. Cameron decided to take on the icing job while Genin (though he didn't want it as documented in pic below) ended up with the job of holding up the house while it was molding into place, luckily not to his hands...

It worked out great this time...until my kids decided to get really creative. "Can we make the house look like a real winter house in PA?" For anyone who hasn't been in the east this winter, our area got 36 inches of snow!! Trees and wires are down, driveways are even tough to get up with a 4 wheel drive! Snow piled on bushes will make for some horrible looking gardening come spring :( We had 6 days without electricity and water...blah! After sealing our gingerbread house and sweetening it up with the included candy pieces, the following was the finished PA winter house...or so I thought....

Like many of the houses in the area, the heavy snowfall proved to be too much and the roof has fallen off (Cameron used the rock hard icing bag to beat on the roof to get it to come off since it actually secured in place this year)

Once the roof had fallen off, it didn't take much more....

Luckily, we have yet to see a house in PA this bad, but I have heard more than enough complaints....

I have always taken in interest in living down south...I have definitely thought longer and harder about this after the trials and tribulations this winter. I think I am just have one of those body types that needs to have warmth all year :) Does anyone else find it depressing to look at snow this long? I have never hated the color white so much in my life! I try not to be grumpy on a regular basis, but I have to admit, snow does this to me. Give me about an inch at Christmas and I am ready for spring. Once the Christmas tree comes down...the snow should just go with it. My sincere apologies to those who love snow and winter...I am just not a winter person. Even my husband can't wait to mow the 5 of our 10 acres, and with this snow, it should grow pretty quickly! I can just see it now...green, lots of green, trees in full bloom (of the trees that are still standing) flowers and eventually the gorgeous blue of our in-ground pool come May. I have even gotten pretty stoked when I see a hint of my driveway peeping through the ice and snow. I absolutely love the smell of spring especially the rain. Isn't that strange? I hate snow, but love rain...I could just stand in it for hours letting it hit my face and take in the fresh smell. Give me a thunderstorm and I am in heaven (of course, I wouldn't be outside letting this hit my face, I love heaven and all, but people versus lightning is nuts) Whoever wrote the poem, Rain Rain Go Away...should have their head examined...or have a winter like ours!