If eating a little dust was bad for us, we'd all be dead by now. I'd let them eat it, and what they will find is it will be hard and stale and no fun. I'd be most worried about letting them eat something that is almost pure sugar. But I know it will make them sad to throw it out, so maybe do offer making some decorated gingerbread cookies as a fun alternative. I wonder if there are some other creative ways of "re-cycling" gingergread houses out there, for those of us who don't have chickens, lol! Grind it all up and turn it into "fairy dust?"

I'd read about her before - interesting little cottage but too....... *too* for me! The thing that struck me as REALLY odd - "This is when I discover, much to my horror, that Todd and I arenÂt completely alike," Ms. Foster said. Duh.

Thank you all for your kind comments. I had no idea about family traditions of building gingerbread houses existed. trainrunner - congratulations on your first. You won't have difficulty remembering the birthdate. bestyears - it must be rewarding that your teen age daughter and her friends share a decade of memories with you. kristinekr - yes, frosted mini wheats. My DH made the rockers from plans and always describes them as taking 3 months of every spare waking moment. nancybee - The kids raided the pantry for the special effects, cereal for the roof and ice cream cones for the trees. ideefixe - interesting observation as their father began his college studies to be an architect, then changed to industrial design. lascatx - the icicles actually are just streams of the royal icing. A few fell into the snow below. texanjana - The rockers have stayed in their rooms since they outgrew riding them. deeinohio - This was a Wilton kit that I purchased at Michaels. It was complete with royal icing and the candies. I also purchased a heavy tray onto which it is built. The kids just added their personalization.

I especially love the one with the multiplicatous googly eyes. Is that the stay-wet minion? And also Maci's dada-esque interpretation of snow on the housetop. I kept looking for excuses to play with frosting over the holidays, but with sequestering, and requests for pie, I had no excuses. I don't really like eating it, so needed your kind of helpers, especially in the cleaning department.