Whatever happened to the gingerbread house?

Lots of you have been asking me that over the past several weeks, since I left my gingerbread house undecorated in the tutorial. I can tell you that after the structure was completed, I set my young ones to the task of decorating it. But since a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old have limited attention spans, they haven’t yet finished it to their liking. Sure, most of the surfaces are covered, but the standing trees and gingerbread men haven’t been put up yet. Then there’s the matter of the petting zoo and the unicorn stables (girls, sheesh!). But since I try not to let any request go unanswered, let me show you where we are at the moment:

Sure, they made some choices that Pierre Hermé probably wouldn’t have made, but to Daddy, it’s the Taj Mahal. I also wanted to show you what some of my other readers — and their children — have been up to. Here, reader Thames shows off the fruits of his template-driven production line:

I especially love those dog houses! This photo belies the true size of reader Jessica’s gigantic gingerbread house, which actually has a huge, three-layer cake inside:

Incredible. If there’s anyone else out there who want to show off the fruits of their holiday labors, please send photos!