Kits never seem to be very good - I used to use them to save myself hassle but they never stuck together right and I swear take longer (and cost more!!) than just biting the bullet and making one from scratch.
Every year we make a gingerbread church.
First, DD has a look on google images for ideas to copy, then we all sit down with some graph paper to design a plan for all the different bits.
The recipe I use seems to give a good structural gingerbread that is too hard to eat at first, but softens (goes stale!) to a nice consistency after a few days.
I melt 2 cups of stork (seems to work much better than butter), 2 cups of soft dark sugar and 6 tablespoons of golden syrup in a pan with a glug of mulled wine.
Add this to 8 cups of flour mixed with 2 tablespoons each of ground ginger and cinnamon.
For icing it is absolutely essential to use royal icing. Just add icing sugar to egg white until it's the right consistency, tiny drop of water if it gets too thick. Dries to solid quite quickly and holds even the most precarious bits together well.
Roll out dough between 2 sheets of baking parchment - if you make the gingerbread quite thin it goes much harder and easier to work with - then place stencils over and cut around them with a knife. Put boiled sweets (no need to crush) in the window gaps before baking.
Put the stencils on top of the warm gingerbread as soon as it's out the oven and trim everything to the right size if anything has grown in the oven - having bits that fit together well is key!
Yesterday, me and DD made the first "practice" one (pictured). Not essential and this is where I out myself as a bit neurotic, but there's always something that doesn't quite go together right and needs resizing (this year it's the spire - arghh it's just so messy!).
Today I'll make the "actual" version with a few redrawn stencils. When we're waiting for the gingerbread for the "actual" one to cool, we smash up the practice one and eat it - it's still a bit hard at this point but softens dipped in warm mulled wine 
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On Christmas Day, we put LED tea lights inside and put it in the living room when opening presents in the morning.
After lunch, I serve it for dessert as an alternative for the children non-Christmas-pudding-eaters. I switch the LED tea lights for real ones just before dinner, so the windows start to melt and go all gooey. Then I give the children a bowl of ice cream each to add the bits to, try not to look as bits of melted boiled sweets get stuck all over the dining room table, et voila!
I maybe take this aspect of Christmas far too seriously.