Finished Product

When we “finished” Hogwarts, Joe said “wouldn’t this be great with real Christmas lights”.  Hypothetically, I agreed but didn’t think the observation was going to lead to action.  Honestly, I was skeptical.  I didn’t want to risk knocking off decorations in an attempt to string lights over the house.  Unbeknownst to me, Mandy and Joe looked on the internet for miniature lights.  Apparently, the progression of choices went like this…Joe, “should we go with a 6’ string or the longest, 19’.  Mandy, “19’".  Joe, “should we go white lights or multi-colored”.  Mandy, “Colored’.  Joe, “Shall we go with blinking lights or constant lights?”  Mandy, “blinking”.  Lights were ordered on the spot and arrived at our doorstep just a few days later.  When the lights arrived, Mandy immediately opened the package.  Kristin joined Mandy and me in the dining room and we evaluated where we should put the lights.  There were two choices.  Place the lights around the bottom.  This choice would avoid the risk of knocking off candies from the structures.  The other choice was to string the lights like you would on a house.  I voted for the rocks.  Kristin leaned toward decorating the structures.  Mandy was adamant, let’s decorate the structures.  Fine, let me experiment to see what it looks like.  I started to string the lights and before we knew it, we were advancing the lights around the entire house and the last light was in perfect position.  There was enough lead wire that goes to the battery box to place the box at the bottom of the rocks.  I suggested we hide the battery box by crafting a Christmas tree over the top.  The tree idea worked perfectly.  I’m sure you know how Kristin makes Christmas trees, melted marsh mellows, green food coloring and corn flakes.  After Kristin finished shaping the tree, Mandy said “do another one, that tree looks lonely”.  Kristin added another tree.  Then Mandy said to add some more to make the forbidden forest.  

Lights

The Forbidden Forest

Hogwarts under construction

The best part about making a gingerbread house is spending time together as a family.  While Joe and Mandy were decorating the base, we heard incessant giggling.  Sona was stuck in another room and said, "I want to be in the room with Joe and Mandy. They are having so much fun"

Sona uses her steady hand to cut windows out of gingerbread before the dough is cooked

Derek is precisely cutting gingerbread to specifications.

Holiday Recipe

16 bags of mini-marshmallows

12 boxes of chocolate Krave cereal

9 batches of decorator’s frosting

3 batches of homemade lollipops

2 batches of gingerbread

1 box of Frosted Mini-Wheats

Sprinkle a dash of candy canes, M&M’s, corn candy, pirouline cookies, good and plenty and gum drops on top

Assemble ingredients.  What do you get?   Hogwarts, of course