This Christmas season I wanted to be really purposeful in finding ways to make the season memorable – without either spending a small fortune or increasing my already-sufficiently-high level of holiday-induced anxiety.
And, taking those two things into consideration, well… doesn’t leave a whole lot of things.
Even gingerbread houses.
But these? With the already-built graham cracker sides? That require no rolling or cutting or baking of gingerbread pieces? Or purchasing of any pre-fab kits?
I was all in.
Especially after calling Victoria and confirming she’d be up for being an extra set of hands to help the kids with their constructions. 
Before we got started, the girls and I made a run to WalMart with these little chalets in mind, picking candies specifically for making them extra fun.
Sour Patch Kids.
Dots.
Sno Caps.
Haribo Raspberries.
Sprinkles of all kinds.
Peppermint and mini-marshmallows.
Christmas-colored M & Ms.
Pull-apart Twizzlers (that we pulled apart to separate the colors).
And little butter cookies to use as wreaths for our tiny graham cracker doors.
All held together with Royal Icing.
We’ve made graham cracker houses before but never used Royal Icing. It held up surprisingly well, especially once we got the hang of how much to use to keep the little houses firmly planted and supported. 
The exception being one three year old who insisted on covering her roof with small sour people and sugar-covered trees despite numerous warnings to desist.
The un-named three year old might have suffered from numerous construction calamities, (thankfully all resolved by simply adding more Royal Icing). 
Overall, the project turned out even better than I could have hoped – all of us had such fun.
And, in the end, we had a village of tiny masterpieces, each joyfully created by one of my babies.
They all wanted me to choose a favorite, but that’s just not going to happen.
I’m pretty convinced that each is the cutest little gingerbread house there every was.