Mix shortening, brown sugar and molasses thoroughly. Stir in water. Blend dry ingredients and stir into brown sugar mixture. Chill dough for several hours. Heat oven to 350. Roll dough 1/2" thick. Cut pieces using pattern. (I made my pattern using cardboard from a cereal box). Bake 10-15 minutes. Watch closely. Do not underbake. Pieces must be sturdy! If cookie pieces spread in the oven, retrim them, using cardboard pattern, to correct size. Let cool.

I used Royal Icing to glue the house to the board, and to glue the walls together and roof in place. I decorated the house with candy canes, chocolate graham crackers and store bought decorators icing in tubes. I used more Royal Icing for snow. My sons chose a couple of small ceramic pieces from a Christmas Village set to add some atmosphere.

This was a little tricky- but I even added "glass" to the windows by baking the cookie dough with crushed hard candies in the window holes. The candy melted and formed windows. I placed Christmas lights inside the house (through a hole in the back) and was able to make the house light up and glow with Christmas charm!