Not quite the classic

One of my favorite Christmas memories is making gingerbread houses as a kid (and adult).  There is something about sitting down with family and gluing copious quantities of sugar together and creating fun structures.  It is something I have enjoyed doing with my son as well.  Last year we scrambled to find a kit, but this year I found an alternative.

I was so excited to see the cute kit to build your own house at the grocery store near our house that sells unique items and random Costco products. 

Using common Japanese candies, you get to build your own house.  How wonderful!  My son looked at it in the store and gave me his most pathetic face, saying "I know we aren't going to get it, but that looks really fun mom."  I gave him a smile and quietly put it in our basket as his face lit up.  While it wasn't a gingerbread house, it would be fun to build it with it and it is reminiscent of those fun houses.

We broke open the box and got busy.  Luckily the instructions had lots of pictures. 

There was a lot of cutting involved, which I took care of.  My son was really into spreading the chocolate "glue."  We worked together as we put together the tiny structure and assembled play yard equipment. 

My son was really into assembling everything, but he was even more into eating all the extra supplies!  I can't blame him.  You don't generally get to eat so much chocolate when decorating gingerbread houses.

After patiently waiting for our chocolate glue to dry, we were able to admire our handy work. 

It was a fun little project.  We'll call it - gingerbread house Japanese style!