Gingerbread Days!

We're baking gingerbread today! The Raymore Breakfast with Santa is Saturday, December 4 and we always make a couple houses for their Gingerbread House Silent Auction. The proceeds go towards our parks department and we love supporting their endeavors. This year I'm using a pattern for Row Houses and the kids are each making a house too!

Here is my entry from last year. The gal who won it kept it for displaying again this year. It was much fun to make...even had working lights inside!

I used the pattern for the Phantom House (a Halloween house, obviously) at the Haunted Dimensions website and just left off the porch and made it Christmas-y. They use cookie dough for their main house, but gingerbread works great (better in my opinion).

Then two years ago (gasp!...that seems like forever ago...I was 6 mos. pregnant with Zane) we each made a house. I was experimenting with recipes that year so poor Kai's caved in!

This one was done using the Farmhouse Pattern from Ultimate Gingerbread. I LOVE their site...navigating it can be a bit tricky, but it is packed with great ideas, patterns and recipes. Here is a link to their gingerbread construction-grade recipes: CLICK HERE and the one I use is called "My Favorite Gingerbread Dough" found if you scroll down to the bottom of that page.

I hope you take some time this Christmas to try out some gingerbread making fun! We started out a few years ago with the easy kits they sell all over the place...perfect for kids and less-ambitious grown-ups...and believe me, much less mess!