A snowy little village

I don't have any book reviews to post right now because, like most everyone else, I am busy, busy getting ready for the holiday. Not much time for reading with all the present-buying and -making. (Super-crafty Twin and I decided at the last minute to make a lap quilt for our grandma. We like to do things last minute. I didn't have high hopes, but it's turning out better than expected.)

Another reason I have nothing book-related to share is that Twin and I spent a ridiculous amount of time this weekend making gingerbread houses. Martha Stewart had a little piece on making them out of graham crackers and they were so cute that we had to give it a try. She presented it as a kiddie project, but it entertained two (mostly grown-up) adults quite well too. We might have gotten a little carried away.

We built a whole village. We weren't too concerned with making it tasty, as we had no plans to eat it. Aesthetics and construction were our foremost considerations. We got together and wrote a tour for our respective blogs:


The Little Big Red Cottage has a gummy roof and gum drop chimney. Look at its little curly shingles!

The Mayor's house is rightly the most imposing in the village. Twizzler beams and a chocolate wafer porch. It is truly a non-pareil. I decided I would live here, though Julie doubts my mayoral abilities. Like all houses in our village, it has a resident snowman.

Next to the lake is Necco Wafer House. It's made of sesame seed thingies and during construction I had serious doubts about it. Julie maintains that it is charming. I guess I can see the appeal.

Across the lil footbridge is Coffee Bean Cabin. We both agree that the coffee beans were a stroke of genius. (Julie's stroke, I will admit. She is right resourceful sometimes.) The chocolate-wafer chimney and chocolate-pretzel fence are nice touches too. Also note that snowmen in our village wear non-pareil hats.

Next we have Those Neighbors. You know, I'm sure you have some of your own. They're the ones who are slightly odd ducks. They find their gumball stylishness in great good taste, and who are we to question that? However their starlite mint door has started oozing from an unexpected and unseemly chemical reaction with the coconut snow.


Every snowy village needs a little igloo. Ours has a starlite mint divan inside.

The Starlite Manor is suffering greatly from the aforementioned chemical reaction but still looks quite fine. A fine upstanding house. The only graham cracker one on the block. Take that, Martha.

The huge mess we made with all this sticky, sugary goodness was in direct proportion to how much fun we had. :o)