Gingerbread house builders savor the moment

<p>It's a common dilemma this time of year in the construction of gingerbread houses, that most sugary of holiday decorations: How to indulge your sweet tooth and not exhaust the candied building materials at your disposal.</p><p>Ashley Snodgrass had a simple solution.</p><p>“It's like one for me, one for the house,” said Snodgrass, 15, one of 20 youth participating Sunday in a workshop for gingerbread builders at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. </p><p>If only real home design were so simple and immediately satisfying. </p><p>You want to shorten that string of lights? Then take a bite out of your licorice and stick it on the eave, just below where the glistening spice drop candy doubles as a chimney.</p><p>Even icicles are easy: Just slather on more of the gooey white frosting after you've had a taste for yourself. </p><p>Misha Penn, 3, thought the “ice cream” was good for her. </p><p>“I said that's debatable,” said Esther Penn, her mother, “but she's determined to test that theory.”</p><p>The sold-out program held Saturday and Sunday was just one of several in the area dedicated to the craft and fancy of fashioning the miniature holiday houses. The Sonoma County Library has held similar classes in recent weeks.</p><p>Helpful relatives made Sunday's workshop a case of teamwork in action.</p><p>At the beginning of the class instructor Roxana Leiva made it clear that the adults were not in charge.</p><p>“You are very open to decorate your house the way you want it,” she told the children. </p><p>Elena Seabrook, 9, of Santa Rosa, had a clear vision for her project. She started by adding M&Ms to a Christmas tree. Then she covered the roof in frosting and licorice and lined the apex with a colorful string of marshmallows, peppermints and other candy. The snowy porch got its own rainbow collection of sweets.</p><p>Within hours the whole thing would be on display at her home, right next to last year's creation. </p><p>“I just want to make it very nice because tonight we're having guests over,” Elena said.</p><p>The adults in attendance were grateful for two things: that store-bought gingerbread kits have replaced the labor-filled, home-baked structures of yore, and that the whole messy enterprise was taking place at the museum, no cleanup required.</p><p>“We did it last year at home,” Connie Craighead said as her twin 6-year-old boys worked over a table smeared with frosting and festooned with candy. “I said, ‘This year we're doing it here.'”</p><p>Dan and Christine Braccialini of Cloverdale were continuing a family tradition with grandsons Anthony, 6, and Tyler, 3. The boys broke their focused silence only to issue work orders. </p><p>“It's so much fun. It's a project to do together,” said Christine Braccialini. </p><p>And at the end of the day, there were more than a few imaginative creations that would have made Peanuts comic strip creator Charles Schulz proud.</p><p>For his house, Cooper Siemers, 6, made a marshmallow resemblance of Snoopy, perched on the roof as if taking in the stars. A family of candied snowmen adorned the doorway, and sweets spilled off the porch.</p><p>A proud contractor, Siemers pushed back from the table and pronounced the job done. “Mine looks pretty good,” he said.</p>