Constructive - Not Construction - Criticism Allowed

In my Before--Sjogren's life, my friend Dianne and I used to make oodles and oodles of small gingerbread houses and sold them at craft sales. We called ourselves "OH Gingerbread". Wasn't that clever?  We sold literally hundreds of them, and one year I gave my kitchen a makeover with my share of the profits. And worked, and kept tabs on three little kids, and....ahhh.....those were the days. 

For the last several years, I have delegated the gingerbread house duties to my daughters, who collaborate to make just one perfect house each Christmas. This year, however, I decided to be brave and dive back into the gingerbread bowl. I am making a replica of my friend's church, and want to be clear - THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. I have not placed the shingles on the roof or finished the landscaping. The steeple and the shingles are giving me a particularly difficult time. How on earth do construction guys shingle strange roof lines???  

The only non-edible parts of the church are the figurines, the trees, and the stained glass windows. The rest is munch-able, if you aren't afraid to break a tooth in the process.  

Working on this project has been a learning experience for me on multiple levels. 

First, and foremost, I have a new respect for those people who can turn out the elaborate, multilevel, REAL gingerbread houses. 

Second: Dang! How do you shingle into a corner?? I salute you, roofers of the real world. 

Third: When I started this project, I expected to complete it according to my pre-autoimmune abilities and schedule. Meaning, I thought I could knock it out in a weekend. Wrong. I work on bits and pieces of the project as energy allows, and interestingly, I have enjoyed working on this church more than any of my other previous gingerbread endeavors. In deliberately approaching this task at a slower pace, it's surprisingly gratifying to complete it one step at a time. To step back, coffee mug in hand, and give it a critical look, to tweak this, and add that. To have a less frantic lifestyle that allows me to take as much time as I want. Of course, this doesn't guarantee that it will turn out perfectly - none of my creations do. But I'm having fun.

 I guess that's what it's all about.