How I Won $50,000 on a Cookie House - Part I

It's December and we've already received our first greeting card (grrr - I already feel like a failure - especially after not getting cards out at all last year) so we need to get talking about Christmas and all the creativity that goes along with it!  December 25th will be here before you can say, "Honey, can you get our 32 Rubbermaid tubs of Christmas decorations out of the attic?"

Many of us make gingerbread houses and I admire those of you who bake them every year.  When my kids were little, I made my share of graham cracker houses.  You know the ones - top heavy with m&ms, starlight mints and candy canes pushed deep into messy royal frosting spackle.

Actually, I made my first gingerbread house as a teenager (above) using such complex design elements as a partially open door, a chimney, and sugar coated orange gel sunburst with silver dragees (oooh) and of course, lots of royal frosting.

Here's another house - circa 1985.  This was about as far as my imagination went, but then I met Betty and she taught me a whole new way to think about gingerbread houses.  More about Betty in the next post... stay tuned.