It won't help cut the size of your mortgage, but we do have a way for you to get a smaller house. But it's a real fixer-upper, one for do-it-yourselfers only. Yes, we're talking about a gingerbread house. | SLIDESHOW: How to build a gingerbread house

Start with the basics: Find a good but easy gingerbread recipe and a pattern that would include the structure's walls and roof. Then search the candy aisles at discount and grocery stores for items that might be used for trimming the house or creating its residents. And get royal icing mix, ready-made fondant and food coloring.

Enjoy! It's a fun project, though not a speedy one. What's wonderful about gingerbread houses is no two are alike; no cookie-cutter houses allowed.

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General tips

1. Allow time, both for fun and inexperience, as well as for drying.

2. Depending on how you work, it's not a bad idea to have a plan of what the house will look like when finished.

3. It is also a good idea to have a template for the house sides and roof, even the chimney if you're using one. There are many sources of patterns on the Internet, or create one of your own.

4. The walls and roof of this house were cut and refrigerated for about 15 minutes before baking. That's recommended in many recipes.

5. Be generous with the mortar, also known as royal icing, as the house is built.

6. Use waxed paper, foil or plastic to cover the royal icing as you work. You don't want to have crust before you get the icing in place.

7. Support walls with cans or similar objects as those pieces of gingerbread dry in place. It helps keep them from tilting.

8. Use cones made from parchment paper or small plastic sandwich or snack bags to fill with icing as you work. This will mean no cleanup or washing needed as you go. (To make the cone, cut a rectangle of parchment, grasping it with thumb and the side of your forefinger at the middle of a long side of the parchment. Then roll around that pivot point, creating a cone.)

9. Royal icing can be made easily, either from scratch or a mix. The other icings can be made with your favorite butter cream-style recipe or purchased. Whipped frosting doesn't set up as well for any of the decorating.

10. If you plan to use different colors of frosting, gel style yields truer and richer colors.