The task could take up the entire weekend, the kitchen could turn into a sticky mess--maybe even cave in. So, in the days leading up to making the house with eight-year-old Hannah and five-year-old Rachel, I did everything I could to ensure the process went smoothly.

I started with a shoe-box frame to support the walls and baked all the gingerbread. I even sketched a preliminary design of how I wanted the house to look, complete with shoestring licorice windows, a caramel chimney and candy flowers in the window boxes.

But when I invited the girls to start decorating and showed them my sketch, I discovered they had other ideas. They covered every inch of the house with as much candy as it would hold. For a finishing touch, the girls poured blue crystal sugar over the whole thing.

After cleaning up the mess and wondering what happened to my miniature dream home, I realized I had missed the point. It didn't matter whether the doors and windows were in the right places or if the house would win a contest at the gourmet shop. What mattered was that the girls enjoyed building their house. In fact, they were ecstatic.

"I wish my real house was made of candy, like this one," Hannah said.