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*Shhhh....* Last weekend it was stir-up Sunday, the traditional Christmas cake-baking day, which passed me by. But I've already bought a few bits and bobs for Christmas. Well, it is a month today!
As well as a few tree decorations, I've bought one of my favourite festive essentials - the gingerbread house. Every year the kids get to decorate one of the pre-baked, ready-to-assemble IKEA houses with icing and retro sweets.
Despite wanting a classically beautiful gingerbread house like this one:
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Or these (actually, I think they might be candles):
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... the result is always a bright and brash Pollock-splattered iced extravaganza, all available surfaces covered in colourful sweets.
One year we managed to get over £8 of pick and mix onto two houses, although there *might* have been a few eaten over the course of the construction.
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And, there's often a moment where a gable end begins to crumble, causing some Kevin McCloud style consternation about whether we're ever going to get through the build intact. But, just like Grand Designs, it all works out okay in the end.
Will it last until the big day? Course not. Do I care? Course not!