12 Dates of Christmas: Gingerbread House

This is date number two of the 12 Dates of Christmas. Neither of us had ever assembled a gingerbread house before, and both of us had visions of it ending in a heaping pile of gingerbread and tears. Thankfully it didn’t turn out that bad, and we might even do it again next Christmas.

SHE SAID:

For years I have avoided making a gingerbread house. I would sidestep the displays in the grocery stores and scoff at the advertisements that promised family fun. Knowing how impatient I can get if something tedious and time consuming doesn’t work out (remember the model car post?) I figured I would do everyone involved a favour and steer clear of the little homes of sugary delights.

The thing I thought would send me over the edge was how to get the walls of the house to stay up. What I didn’t know was that some kits that you can buy (like ours) have little grooves that you fit the house into to help support it. Plus, I didn’t realize how thick the icing was. Problem solved!

Once the walls were up, it was time to get creative with the candies. I loved having the kit because everything we needed was included in the box. The only thing I was disappointed with was the fact that you couldn’t make it look as good as the gingerbread house on the box because it didn’t come with the fancy icing bag tips you can use to make nicer designs.

Now that I’m over my gingerbread house qualms, I’m thinking I might get a little crazy next year and maybe try to make one without a kit. I haven’t mentioned this to Brad yet, though, so don’t hold me to it. He may have a few reservations.

HE SAID:

Most parents buy their son some LEGO at some point in his life. This is usually met with excitement and happiness. These kids dream of building exactly what is shown on the box, and then taking it apart and building something totally different. The parents beam with pride when their child shows them what they’ve built with the LEGO, and all live happily ever after….this is not my story.

My parents did buy me LEGO at some point, but happiness on my part did not follow. I opened the box, emptied out all the pieces, read the instructions, and began to build. The first few pieces were always fun and easy to assemble. Then came that first vital piece that would make or break the construction. Emphasis on break. My LEGO dreams always ended in a pile of pieces while I contemplated throwing the whole box right across the room.

Now, 20 years later, I still fear activities that hinge on construction. So I was naturally terrified to put together a gingerbread house. It seemed like a slightly more delicious version of my LEGO nightmare all over again.

Thankfully my fears were totally unneeded. The gingerbread house came together relatively easily. We ran into some issues due to the frosting that holds everything together not drying fast enough, but there really were no major catastrophes to report. One of the biggest problems we encountered was one side of the roof kept sliding down. While trying to get it back in place, one of the walls of the house started to cave in. Luckily we got it all under control and nobody raged as a result.

This could be an interesting date depending on how long you’ve known the person you are with. It’s a good test to see how well you communicate and work together. More importantly, it’s a great way to expose the hidden rage that resides in you or your partner. Trust me, if there’s anything bubbling beneath the surface, it will show itself before the gingerbread house is complete. For us it would have been fine no matter how it turned out. If I had smashed the house like I did with my LEGO as a kid, it wouldn’t have shattered our relationship. However, if it was a first date, my luck might not be so good.

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