Raise the roof

I've never made a gingerbread house in my life. Well okay, I remember attempting to make one. In second grade, my teacher had the bright idea to have us all make gingerbread houses for our parents out of graham crackers and frosting and candy. But, when you have a bunch of six-year olds running the show, that just means lots of gingerbread house materials in our bellies, and less so on our plate, much less so in a nice house-like fashion.

Anyways, getting back to the point of this post. Just in time for the holidays, I ran across this contest, and lo and behold - the most beautiful gingerbread houses I've ever seen in my life!

I've never made a gingerbread house before. And now after seeing these ones, I probably never will. Because clearly, some things are best left to others.

Seriously, how can you make something so amazing AND edible?! This is impossible to me! Look at those lines! The shapes! The colors!!

Sure they say that things are made out of pretzels and gum paste and mashed up cornflakes and whatnot, but I don't believe it. These are clearly little house/cottage/lighthouse models that they must have stolen from architectural firms or something.

At least, that's what I tell myself so that I can sleep at night.
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Also, another thing - I looked at the first couple of entries and was amazed that so many doctors have the time to make crazy intricate things like these gingerbread houses. Seriously, I was thinking things like, "Wow Mary E. Timonium, MD - that is an amazing lighthouse you made there. How many patients did you see while you were making this?" I then quickly realized that the MD following their names was referring to the state that they live in, not necessarily their occupation. See, my brain is fried from all this kidney studying.