Gingerbread Creation

So I decided to document the creation of our gingerbread "house" this year. Hopefully it will not get too long. I really enjoy this process - it is totally creative. However, I could not do it with out David's support and huge amount of work and time. Thank you David. I also have the support and help of any of my kids who happen to be around. Kyle has already put in many hours helping. Thank you also.
I failed to get a photo of the first step - designing the house. This took hours/days because first I had to decide what I wanted, visualize it,
explain that visualization to Daivd via rough sketches etc, and then David had to draw up the architectural plans -in other words he had to draw up a pattern for every piece of the house/building so we could cut out the Gingerbread.
The second step was all done by David and Kyle. Between them they made 16 batches of gingerbread, baked it, and cut out the pieces. My only involvement was to help remove gingerbread pieces from the pans (it takes two people to remove the big pieces) and find room on the counters and tables for all the pieces. These first two pictures show some of the results of the first 2 steps.
Step three is to make the windows out of hard glass candy - what you make suckers from. If I decide to decorate the inside of a house, then I don't put windows in all the pieces. This year I put windows in Santa's workshop and part of the Barn. Step 4:
Now my part begins. I usually put the house together first and then decorate walls, but this year I tried it backwards and decorated the walls first. I hope it works. After spending hours in stores looking for appropriate candies etc. and hours deciding what candy I want to use where (and it does take me hours to decide) I finally made some royal icing and set to work. Kyle came to help and we worked together for about 3-4 hours Saturday. We got lots done on Santa's Workshop and Kyle just barely began Santa's house.