I have never built a gingerbread house. I have no experience WHAT.SO.EVER. When I was invited by a good friend to her gingerbread house party this past weekend, I accepted with the thought that I would go and WATCH other people build theirs.

Righhttt…. As soon as I found out there were prizes involved IT WAS ON! For those that don’t know, I’m a pretty competitive person. No, I’m REALLY competitive…and that’s putting it nicely. I have had several nights of sheer embarrassment after getting caught up in a moment, and later apologizing and having conversations about the way I handle myself. REALLY.

We arrived well into the building phase of the party and there were really great and creative ideas in the works. I was a little overwhelmed by how awesome the other houses looked and all of the options for building my own. There were tables loaded with all sorts of building materials- gingerbread crackers, cookies, candy canes, gumdrops, Twizzlers, marshmallows, icing, m&m’s…the possibilities were endless! It looked like Candy Land!

When I started building my house, I took a more realistic approach. I quickly realized that this house will definitely be a flop. The supposed snow made of icing I put on the roof was running off and I ran out of time to finish or fix anything. Michael decided to add a last minute Santa trap… and giving up all hope of the prize, I obliged.

The votes were tallied and my friend Julie gave the “No one is a loser speech.” I was all yea right- that would be us thank you very much! Julie called out the first place name and it was rightly won. It had my vote. Then Julie continued… “Second place is……….Kelly and Michael!”
OUR HOUSE WON A PRIZE?!?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

I was completely flabbergasted and excited- even if it was a pity vote

So without further ado….Here is the prize winning house.

DON’T HATE!