Ombre roofed gingerbread home.

I've decided that there is a certain love that can only be found when experiencing things.  I have always loved gingerbread.  Gingerbead cookies, and gingersnaps are wonderful, and I grew up looking forward to my mother's gingerbread homes every Christmas.  But I never knew that actually making the recipe from scratch, breathing in each spice, cutting out the pieces and watching them bake in the oven would bring on a whole different love.  

I love gingerbread.

This is my first official gingerbread home as a mother.  I made one in college but I like to think that it never happened.  I'm pretty sure I had a little too much confidence in myself and it turned out awful.  This year I went for simple, just to make sure it would stand.

While searching the candy isle at walmart I was a little disappointed at the lack of some of the classic candies I grew up with.  Where were the tootsie rolls?  The Necco?  And my heavens, I found four different 'fun' types of sour, gooey, squishy jolly ranchers, but not one package of regular old jolly ranchers.  Ahhhh, alas.  I had to use life savers for the windows instead and they were a little more opaque than would have been nice.

Luckily I did come across this little purple bag of raspberry m&ms.  If I couldn't find Necco to tile my roof, maybe ombre m&ms would work.

I like to think they did :)

My husband has been working on a wood project for a Christmas gift and he made me this bread board out of the extra scraps.  I love bread boards, but it seams that of all the ones I have none are actually usable.  They are all too fancy and pretty to actually chop up with a knife.  I told my husband I would like one that was unfinished so that over time it could develop a natural finish of lovely pot burns and knife marks.  I'm so darn excited!  I thought it would look nice with the 'simple' theme of the gingerbread home, so this is it's first job.

And is anyone else as in love with these sparkly green trees as I am?  I am sure they are everywhere, but I'd never noticed them before.  Sometimes I can be so oblivious.

Now they can stand with their little pile of chopped firewood and the gingerbread family of long-armed children.  

Have any of you made anything from gingerbread this year?  I'd love to see!