
My five-year-old granddaughter recently came for a visit, so I suggested we make a Halloween gingerbread house. Shhh…don’t tell, but I knew there was a kit available at the local craft store.
We bought one and I was impressed that the eight-dollar package included everything. Well, almost everything. The box contained the directions, a base, the house sections and two envelopes for making green and orange icing. The kit also included a small liquid packet of black coloring. I suppose I was to add this to either of the frostings, but I would have appreciated some guidance. Just what quantity of black icing did I need?
Fortunately, I keep a stash of cookie and cake decorating accessories and found I had a can of black frosting. Problem solved; I used it as mortar to cement the house pieces together.
As always, gingerbread buildings require adult construction and also need time to set and dry. Kids never like this period of waiting…they want to get right into the candy application.

Nonetheless, I put the house together and eventually Kyra added the candy corns, gumdrops and helped with the roof icicles. She seemed happy enough and I rather like the spooky little house.
Too bad she wasn’t able to take it home on the plane.