My daughters and I spent a good deal of time on a gingerbread house today. The house was a Christmas present from Canada that was from the store IKEA.

The pieces of the house are already baked and ready to go, and there are easy to follow instructions. That’s where the easy part stops.

Builders are given a choice between two different types of sugar icing. One is described as being very strong, but it is a hot sugar syrup, and as such would not be good to work with for kids. The second is a sugar icing made with egg white and icing sugar that is not dangerous to use but takes time to set up (harden). We went with the icing sugar icing.

Next up, the house pieces. Some were broken. Not a problem. Even if we baked the pieces, it is almost a certainty that some pieces would break and need repairing. Repairing is easy to do with the icing, but takes time to harden.

OK, the pieces are ready, let’s start building. This requires patience (lots), icing (lots) and objects, such as small glasses to support the walls you are trying to join together. Oh, and time, You need time for the bond between the walls to harden.

Now that the walls are set (sort of), let’s put on the roof and chimney. More icing, more patience, more objects to provide support. And time.

OK, it is starting to look like a house. A sort of earthquake-damaged, roughly repaired house, but a house nonetheless. Last up: decorations. This was completely done by my daughters (other than my stepping in to provide judgement on the odd argument during the decorating).

And it was done. And it looked as you see it…for about 2 hours. After dinner, my daughters asked (good manners) if they could try it (ie. taste it). The OK being given, the crushing ball delivered precise blows and demolished the house.

How did it taste? Honestly, it was delicious!