The holiday season is a joyful time filled with days off from school and work, religious ceremonies and, best of all, sugary food. If you are finding it hard to get into the holiday spirit this year, then I suggest you take some time with family or friends to make your own gingerbread house. Building a ginger bread house brings many different aspects of the holiday season into one activity.
While I advise you to bake your own one-of-a-kind, delicious gingerbread house that may be too much work for some people. Buying a kit from the store is all right, but you need to make sure to get extra candy because they never end up having enough.
Creating your own homemade gingerbread house gives you the opportunity to bake. Some people make it a tradition to bake around the holidays, while others just enjoy eating the prepared breads and cookies. Chocolate chip and sugar cookies are fun and easy to bake, but putting in just a little extra effort (and a few more spices) to make gingerbread cookies could add something new to the holidays this year.
Making them can be tough for a new baker; Betty Crocker’s 1-2-3 Gingerbread Houses lays out all the steps in a relatively simple way, including how to properly cut the pieces for the walls and roof. When constructing these cookies, remember they are not just going to be eaten; they are going to be built into a masterpiece.
The smell of gingerbread cookie dough baking in the oven can make anyone get into the holiday spirit alone, but why not listen to a little festive music or turn on a classic holiday blockbuster to brighten your mood even more?
While everyone at the table is busy constructing their houses and jamming to the holiday hits, it is a perfect time to reminisce about comical holiday memories. Thinking about past holidays can help you remember what it felt like as a kid to get so excited when December finally rolled around and school was out.
Getting home for winter break and seeing that you missed the decorating of your house this year can be upsetting, but now you have your own little house to decorate in whatever way you want. Mom and dad have no say this time; you get to decide exactly how everything is going to look and taste.
Decorations for the gingerbread house do not have to be confined to just candy, but they can include marshmallows, pretzels, graham crackers and whatever other snacks you desire. Many people like to be strategic with the decorating by making specific patterns, only using chocolate candies or picking a certain color scheme to follow while others like to pile on the icing and throw on as many delicious treats as possible.
Once your house, or mansion, is finished, you can snap some pictures and make sure your friends know that you really do have some artistic ability. Then when you get sick of looking at it you get to eat it…all of it. What is better than a holiday decoration that is fun to make and ends up in your stomach? You tell me.
Plan an evening to make gingerbread houses with some family or friends this break and you won’t regret it. Put on your favorite sweater, crank the Christmas tunes and be ready for a holiday sugar high. Maybe even make a little competition out of it, but be aware that people can get pretty heated when their house doesn’t get chosen as the winner.
Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21
Owens: Making a gingerbread house is a true holiday experience
Tanner Owens
December 22, 2014
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