MY GINGERBREAD HOUSE
AND
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

My first attempt at building a gingerbread house. I didn't bake the gingerbread
it came from a kit. Yea, I know, I cheated.

Another angle of the house.

The other side.

The back of the house, note the wood pile by the chimney. The chimney is
made from Twisler bites, mortered together with icing. It took about 2 hours
to build.

A shot from the other side, note the wood pile and the "wreaths" in the
windows... Arn't I creative?

A gingerbread man view of the front. You can kind of see the lights from my
Christmas tree and the lights above my fireplace in the background.

My Christmas tree in my den. Santa, please note how the stockings are
hung by the chimney with care... Look There's a present already under the
tree already, actually she's in front of the fireplace, but I'm being sarucastic
here. There are 700 lights on the tree; 300 white and 400 multi-colored. It's
a seven and a half foot tree and it was very clearly pointed out to me that
I'm 50 lights short. Guess I'll have to try harder next year!

My front yard with my other "gingerbread" house. The house is going to be
a playhouse for my kids when the ground thaws in the spring. I hated to see
it just sit in my back yard all winter, so, I decorated it. :-) Note the lights
that appear on the right of the photo, I couldn't fit it into the shot, but there's
a small tree with 300 lights on it.

A side view of the "gingerbread" house. The green lights in the on the left
are actually wrapped around a rose arbor. It was easier than planting a bush
at the side of the house.

A view of my house from the road. This is actually 2 pictures put together, bet you can't see the seam!
I have about 2600 actual mini-bulbs outside, that number does not count the bulbs on the balls (in the
tree middle left) and on the "gingerbread" house (left) and the rope lights that make up the door to the
"gingerbread" house or the rope lights on the tree next to the house (just outside the photo on the left).

I estimate over 3000 lights outside alone. Naturally, all you electritions out there don't read this part,
they are all plugged into 1 outlet. But on the bright side, (oops, bad pun) they're all activated by a
wireless transmitter! :-)

At last count, I had over 1400 lights in-side as well, making for a grand total of about 4500 lights!
Allegheny Power just loves me this time of year. My estimated bill was actually higher this year in
anticipation of my decorations. Please note, I am accepting donations to help pay the bill! :-)

Happy Holidays!