Gingerbread men and houses

Swedish people take their Christmas gingerbread very seriously.  

(I haven't found Molasses anywhere here, and their little g.men and women are usually thin and crispy, so there are some big differences from American gingerbread!)

 The family gets together (as much as is possible), heaps of dough are made and at the ready, and off we go.

Lydia is finally old enough to enjoy making shapes, seeing the process, and eating enormous amounts of gingerbread cookies...

 Markus, not quite ready to help.  He spent most of his time being dressed up in his sister's apron and hair cover, chewing on the plastic cookie cutters and rolling pins, and being cute.

 And then we discovered this beauty...Ikea makes and sells plenty of furniture that you have to assemble yourself, but did you know that they sell gingerbread kits with a great step by step assembly book!  I was NOT disappointed.

Here's a step by step glance of our house building...

1.  Make sure all the pieces are there!  *I wonder if Ikea would give us a free replacement door or roof if one piece was missing like they do with real furniture?*

2.  Get the "goods" and don't eat them yet!

 3.  BE VERY CAREFUL....I have never seen this in America but it works great!  Melted sugar is a much better cement than icing, and works almost immediately.  No more waiting three hours for the walls and roof to "dry" together.  But on the other hand, hot melted sugar burns can really hurt.

 Here is the assembled kit.  Hands are unburnt, house is stuck together better than crazy glue, and here we go!

 My sweet Mother in law Monica was also doing a house...and Lydia ran back and forth helping both of us.

Green?  Bold choice for a roof...is it gonna work out?

 Markus wants to help with the icing process...ha, no way!

 Lydia is delighted to get a piece of broken candy cane....

 And here's the final result! Lydia and Markus spelled out with black licorice...

And here is Farmor's sweet house...which looked much sweeter with a layer of fresh snow all around and some little people standing outside.

And we are still trying to eat up the last bits of gingerbread men.  I am confident Lydia is up for the job.