Gingerbread House Time Again

Once again Christmas fans it is time to document the Gingerbread Championships of the world. It gets intense every year and this year was no exception. Trash talking began early and accusation were flying by Christmas eve. This year I had too much to do staying ahead of the mob with making frosting etc so I opted out of the competition. We used at least 6 boxes of graham crackers and I have no idea how much hot glue. This is still much faster and easier than the days when I made our gingerbread from scratch. That was fun! They spent pretty much the entire Christmas Eve day making these little babies:

The builders are enjoying the first phase of the production. There was of course much griping about the quality of the crackers. They are never straight enough or tough enough.

We did have 3 glue guns this year which was better but next year one per person will be mandatory! Sharing comes with its own hazards and scars.

After hours and hours of this some started loosing interest and just finished up to be done. Can it be that this competition will eventually be phased out??? Nah

The air was thick with anticipation but they really outdid themselves this year. The secret ingredient or item that had to be used or admit failure and defeat was the sugar star. See if you can see all 4 of them:

The Comeau Castle. Benjy is the builder and Ashley is the decorator. This Rees added the small outbuilding that ooops got cut off in this picture on the right. Love the flag pole and the candy path around to the back. I love the shape of the house too-nice roof line.

Christina's Casa is delightful. I loved the arch and the roof top candy canes the most I think. It was so cute. It such a cute little Victorian masterpiece. Even the gardens looked the part.

Jeff's roof was also very impressive. I like the lamp posts and the candies around the foundation.Good use of candy everywhere especially the candy canes on the top of the roof. That might be my favorite part of his.

Hayden had a lovely courtyard and fun BBall hoop in the back yard. The garden plot is so cute. He sure was ticked when he ran out of gum for the roof though and was forced to use a different color. I like where he placed his star.

They made a lovely colorful village. It was almost a shame to shoot them up!!

(Here's a better view of Rees' shop and now you can see Hayden's back yard too.)
Hopefully none of then will realize that we never did officially declare a winner this year.