Our Christmas Miracle

Once the gingerbread pieces were - hurriedly - baked, the turkey ordered, and our online grocery shopping done, it made perfect sense to go to Argentina for 5 days. After all, what better way to prepare your body for the marathon of rich Christmas food, than a good warm up with empanadas, steak, dulce de leche, and Malbec?

We arrived home yesterday and I surveyed the gingerbread materials I had created, as I said, in rather a hurry. Memories of suggestions like 'reshape the pieces while they are still warm to make sure they have straight edges' and 'handle carefully, large pieces are fragile' floated back to the surface of my mind. I was in too much of a hurry when I made it to pay much attention to minor details. Perhaps these minor details were important though...

I don't know much about building but something about these walls and this roof just doesn't look right.

Look closer.

Is it absolutely essential that the roof is all in one piece?

This gable end is not entirely orthodox

And just how straight do the edges need to be?

Fortunately for me, TLOML has power tools and he knows how to use them.

And I know (from bitter experience) the sticking power of burnt sugar. So I bubbled up some caramel, and together we constructed our lovely gingerbread house.

 TLOML and his mother have been kind enough to use phrases like 'charmingly rustic', 'a fixer-upper' and 'like somewhere an American would pay millions for in the South of France' to describe it.

And the Christmas miracle? When I got out of bed this morning it was still standing!