a new tradition.
yesterday i did something that i haven’t done in probably over 15 years. and something marshall said he hadn’t done in over 20 years!
some of you guys guessed what i was up to…
we decorated a gingerbread house!
kristen’s mom holds a gingerbread house extravaganza every year. thank goodness we were invited to participate—this was so much fun. it was actually a competition, so marshall & i really had to step to the plate. there were 7 or 8 houses in the running.
there was an array of food for gingerbread house decorating fuel. kristen’s mom is an excellent hostess!
i had a couple turkey & cheddar sandwiches on dollar rolls, some delicious basil & tomato orzo and a caesar salad (#8 of 20 for the challenge!)
working..
progress..
working..
complete!
love it.
some of the details on our house…
siding and christmas lights on the raingutters
purple car
nonpariel minty chip yard
marshall’s rice krispie treat snowman
kristen & rory did a dexter crime scene house. it was freaking awesome. we couldn’t vote for our own house, so i definitely voted for theirs!
i loved all the creepy, bloody details.
for the competition, we tied for second place. there was a re-vote and we lost to the gingerbread house that had a gingerbread man with blue balls. go figure.
we gave our house to my mom to put on display at her house. i am pretty proud of our handy work!
i think this gingerbread house thing needs to be a new tradition!
the winner of the fourth giveaway of christmas is #12!
congratulations, heather! please email me your address and i will ship the book out to you ASAP!
giveaway #5 coming later tonight, stay tuned :)
Qs~
1. have you ever built/decorated a gingerbread house?
2. what are some of your december traditions?
xo. janetha g.
meals & moves 
i’ve actually never built one or decorated one! we used to get them all the time from friends in elementary school :) december traditions that I love: cooking/baking with my mom and our entire freezing cold garage being full of fudge and cookies and pecans…oh my!
I have only made a gingerbread house once, in elementary school!!! Looks like a TON of fun… I love the ice cream cone trees and the purple car!!
I still think you should have made an icing bikini for Marshall!! ;)
If only I liked gingerbread, I’d make it more often. Plus, being a jew doesn’t make it “traditional” either so the only time I made one was in culinary school. I gave it to a homeless man because I certainly wasn’t going to eat it.
December traditions? not much, but my mom died december 28 so we always try to go visit her grave in israel. I know this is a sad comment. On the bright side, she was pretty awesome so its always a tradition to drink lots of wine because she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way!
I haven’t made a gingerbread house in FOREVER. I’m jealous!
Damn that looks like fun :)
No way! My mom and I are in the middle of making ours now! We keep running out of icing, so it has turned into a long project.
Yours looks fantastic! I especially like the walkway and the snowman!
omg I love it. The Dexter Crime Scene is pretty dang good!
Me and my mom did gingerbread houses last year—but, there was no competition so I definitely didn’t go out of my way to make it great!
what fun!!! i have not made a gingerbread house in years…now I want too : )
Oh my gosh that is SO much fun! Your house looks fabulous! Josh is a MAJOR Dexter fan- I will have to show him that house. I haven’t made a gingerbread house in ages. December traditions are pretty usual- getting our tree & fresh wreath. Putting up our stockings with our names on them (Frank has a stocking too!!), my dad handing out the gifts on Christmas day and eating delicious foods
yep! i want to build a 60s danish modern g-bread house. and then live in it. we like to take sparklers out on christmas eve and run around like idiots in the cold (if it’s snowing, then all the better!).
p.s. holy crap dexter season finale?! !!! almost peed myself
Ahhh I know!
I haven’t made a gingerbread house in years and now I really want to!! I remember it was always so fun as a kid because you got to eat tons of candy while making it :)
oh my gosh Janetha, how fun! I want to do this!!!!!
Love the purple car, nice touch. :)
um the Dexter crime scene house? AMAZING idea!
Those are some fancy gingerbread houses! Love all the details. I haven’t done one in a LONG time. At least 15 years as well. Probably closer to 20.
I want to eat that purple car. Looks good! I love making gingerbread houses with my neices and nephews. Gives me an excuse to dirty up their the kitchen and have a candy/frosting fight! haha.
Those are intense gingerbread houses! I love the idea of a Dexter house. I was discussing gingerbread houses with my husband the other day and we discovered (ironically) that I’m Jewish and have made them before, and my husband who is Catholic (and actually celebrates Christmas) has not. Even though I feel like gingerbread houses are more of a seasonal thing than a holiday thing . . .
I love making gingerbread houses! My sister and I usually do one every year. I haven’t been home enough this year to do one yet, but I so want to now! :D
December traditions… definitely the gingerbread house, cookie baking, chinese food on christmas eve, decorating the tree, christmas ;)
xo
ahhh i want to play!!! the bloody house one is super creepy though haha. yay for 2nd place! i think mama b should pack it up and ship it to me though. although idk how long it would last before the gumdrop garden would start to dissapear…
Janetha how fun!! I love the purple car part of your gingerbread house! I would love to be part of a gingerbread house competition! My son and I used to do gingerbread houses, but now he is really not into it, but when I have another baby Im sure I will be building gingerbread houses again! xoxo
Oh my gosh! That’s so cute! I’ve always, always wanted to decorate a gingerbread house but I’ve never done it. Maybe I’ll have to start that as a tradition this year.
You know what, I’ve never done a gingerbread house ! Craziness! The Dexter one is so creative – I had to laugh at the bloody snowman! ‘Tis the season…lol
how FUN!!!!! gingerbread houses are sooo fun to decorate! love the new tradition!!! yay for yalls FIRST holidays together!
That party looks like so much fun! I decorated a house years ago, but would love to do it again. The Dexter crime scene is so creative!
I have never decorated a gingerbread house before!!! My mom isn’t into baking or candy, so obviously gingerbread wasn’t her thing. I love your cute little houses! As a side note, Dexter is going to be the next series I watch. I’m starting once I get home, can’t wait! :)
we used to make gingerbread houses when i was little! my mom used to put hers in a contest so we would always build our own too, she always bought all sorts of candies, it was so much fun. I think i would love to do it again sometime, no time this year, but maybe next year!
its a lot of fun though hey
I think I’ve only ever done this one time in my life but I remember it being FANTASTIC!!! I need to have a Ginger Bread House Party and invite you and your awesome friends. ;)
What a fun tradition! I’ve never decorated a gingerbread house, but it’s on “my list” for this year! Hope to make it a tradition with the toddler… :)
Those houses are awesome! I haven’t made them since I was little – maybe 8 or 9? I have photo proof but no memories – need to do it again. :)
That’s so adorable! I’d love to do that. :D
oh man, my boyfriend has been nagging me for weeks about building a gingerbread house and i refused to let him buy one because it seemed like a frivolous activity that was sort of a waste of time. i now regret this decision and have sent him this link. he might get jealous and run to the supermarket to buy us the gingerbread house kit… look what you’ve done! ;)
What a great idea!!!! We’re actually doing something similar with the kids in Jay’s family this year.
My favorite tradition is making chocolate covered pretzels (well, chocolate covered anything) on Christmas Eve when my sister comes home from Chicago. :)
i LOVE it :) Your house is sooo adorable. I decorated one a few years back with my sister-in-law, her first ever, as apparently its not a common tradition in south korea. and i just found out my mom bought a kit for mr. k and i to make when he’s visiting this weekend :) so excited to be a little kid again (and snag frosting and candies ;))
I brought this gingerbread man decorating kit that i found at TJ’s down to aruba with me! That and an advent calendar. Been doing the calendar and will be decorating the g’bread man, soon, with skylar.
Your gbread house is Magnificent!!!!!!!!
FUN!!! i came close to buying a gingerbread decoating kit. just so i could eat the house by myself.
Ah man! I used to love making gingerbread houses every year in elementary school. On the day before we’d get out for break, the whole class would go to the cafeteria and go nuts decorating!
I actually decorated a gingerbread house tonight! I had to redeem myself from last year when the roof caved in!
Your’s is SUPER adorable! Much better than mine. ;)
Yessssss!! Gingerbread house decorating is my favorite holiday tradition of all time! I told Meeker that this year we are each doing one, and then inviting our friends over to vote on the winner. I’m really into it. :-)
Oh my god! Those houses are seriously crazy!!! Good job :)
I’ve never decorated a gingerbread house :( And we don’t really have any traditions. I’m feeling a little lame now.
I will share though, that one season a few years back…. I was out at a bar with friends and I gathered them all up and brought them home to watch “A Carebear’s Nutcracker!” The group included my ex-boyfreind, the girl my husband dumped me to date for a while, that girl’s new boyfriend, and several others; all over 20! It was sort of amazing.
Your house is so cute- I love the purple car!!! I made one a few years ago, but I really want to make another one again soon!
So fun!! I’ve actually never decorated a gingerbread house before. You guys did a really good job – such a cute couple :)
The crime scene house is pretty sweet.
The DEXTER theme was hilarious….I love, am consumed by the show…have not watched in 2 weeks until my hubby returns home :(
ahhh the finale is intense!
Gingerbread houses are a BIG tradition in my family. It’s quite literally an all day event!! Your guys’ look great!!
We are doing gingerbread houses in Gigi’s class on Friday. I cannot wait.
I’m in charge of shopping for candy tomorrow. Could there be a better job?!?
I think we’ll steer clear of the Dexter theme, though…
Bahah- blue balls … I die laughing!
I love how your friends’ murder scene has a snowman who’s smiling ear to ear. WHAT FUN!
I’ve never ever ever done that- I’d LOVE to!
In recent years we are often out of town so we haven’t even had a tree!! How awful. I’ll be in town for the most part and I’m even thinking of getting a little tree tomorrow even though the cats will rip it to shreds. I could perhaps pour cayenne powder on the tree to teach them to stay away. Hmm. A thought.
That looks like a lot of fun! Glad you started a new tradition :)
how fun!! i love making gingerbread houses! I haven’t done that since I was little..!
I’m glad you guys had fun! It sounds like an excellent new tradition. I can’t even remember the last time I decorated a gingerbread house!
I love your gingerbread house, but I love your hair and hat even more.
love decorating gingerbread houses! we did this all the time as kids. last year i bought some houses on clearance at walmart after christmas and my sister, cousin, and i decorated them. so fun! :)
I started a tradition this year too, with gingerbread houses! My sister and our boyfriends and I decided to decorate a house..we did not make it a competition which is a good thing because our house was incredibly ugly. Yours came out so well! Our icing got all droopy and started falling off…the candy dripped off the sides…it was a mess! We had a lot of fun doing it though, maybe next year we will get better quality ingredients and do something super creative like the Dexter crime scene :)
It came out really well the house that you have decorated… I made it last year but had not gone very well … lol
i’m in love with your ginger house! i feel kind of a connection since i’m a ginger kid and all ;)
haha. you two are the cutest!
xo.
i LOVE making gingerbread houses! we always used to make them growing up, and my sisters and I each got to invite a few friends and we’d all decorate together. of course, I always took forever with mine because I wanted it to be perfect. I’m crossing my fingers we find time to do it when I’m home this year too!
Very cute gingerbread!
I have made one before, but just from a kit.
One tradition we have is to play BINGO on Christmas Eve with all 25 family members. Gifts go in a pile on the middle of the floor and we play until they are gone!
Your gingerbread house is so cute! I now really, really want to make one.
What a nice gingerbread house! We do this a lot in Sweden this time a year, but in the end I can never bring myself to eat it! It’s just so much effort to make it nice<3
I made one this year too, and I've baked it from scratch!
Kind wishes,
Antonia
this is a tradition i could dig.
i am LOVING this tradition!!! i havent made a gingerbread house since elementary school days. i miss it. looks sooooo fun.