Our new Christmas tradition: building a gingerbread house

I'm in my 30's and I've never built a gingerbread house before. I'm the furthest thing from "Martha Stewart" as it gets, but this year I was inspired after a trip to the Royal Park Hotel to see the largest Gingerbread House in Oakland County.

For a bigger challenge, you can try to build your own from scratch using this recipe from the Henry and Elenor Ford House.

Of course, I knew going in that my little project could not compare to the massive creation at the hotel, but for some reason, I just wanted to do it. Maybe it's because my kids are old enough to help and I thought it would fun to do with them.

I spotted a kit at Meijer for $8.99. I totally thought it was worth it, especially since it incorporated a Rudolph theme. It came with three "jelly" characters - Santa, Rudolph and Bumble. I knew this would be an even more attractive option to get the kids to help. I couldn't resist!

As soon as I brought it home, my kids begged me every minute of every day to put it together. So we took a stab at it on Black Friday.

Overall, I would say it was a memorable experience and probably a new holiday tradition in the house.

Here are the details:

Don't expect the icing to work like glue. Even though it is suggested to hold each constructed piece before moving onto the next, there is no guarantee that it will hold. Our house collapsed twice.

The icing is super easy to decorate with. I used to decorate cakes many, many years ago. Using the icing in the bag was fun and brought back some memories. I found that the more icing I used, the better the house looked, so don't skimp.

It may not be a keeper. After the balancing act of having the house stay standing long enough for a photo opp, it quickly came down as the kids pulled it apart piece by piece to take some bites. I used to think that if we chose not to eat it, that we could use it as a centerpiece year after year. Now, I'm thinking not so much.

The taste won't blow you away. Half the reason I bought this thing was to devour it after making it. I don't know if it's for construction purposes, but not one part of this house was good enough to eat that much of. Even the gum drops didn't have much taste. And, if my kids say it's ok for me to throw out the candy, it must be pretty bad.

You'll definitely make memories. Even though it was a struggle, I loved the end product and I truly enjoyed doing this with my kids. They had so much fun and we even took a picture of it all for our next Christmas card.