The making of gingerbread houses is a very serious business indeed. First, one must use homemade gingerbread and delicately cut out the pieces straight from the oven. Second, copious amounts of accoutrements must be acquired and consumed. Third, nothing but royal icing will suffice for these discerning masons. And fourth, know that every part of the house will be purposefully, yet lovingly placed. I should have kept track of how long we sat their unwrapping, thinking, gluing. . . at least a couple hours. Maddie, Sage, and Ike took well to the task, as did their cousin Kaylee. This was the first time Ike and Kaylee enjoyed their own house. We love seeing the end result! Growing up we'd make these closer to the beginning of the month so that we could "enjoy" {i.e. strip the candy off} our houses longer. This year we gathered to my parent's home and decorated Christmas Eve. Dallin slept for the first part of making and sat on my lap the last part, eagerly finding broken scraps to devour. I think this is where he learned to say "canny cane" in his wee baby voice.
More about the wonders of gingerbread house making later when I post actual pictures . . . :)
The rest of our Christmas Eve program included the nativity re-inactment and each opening one present . . . my mom made pajamas for everyone. That was NINE adult and SIX child pajamas - holy cow that's a ton of cutting, pinning, sewing, etc. Thanks Mom - we LOVE them!! Earlier in the day, Maddie questioned the existence of Santa aloud (which she has done not less than a few times this season), saying she needed a picture for proof. One of her aunts or uncles showed her the Santa tracker online and a picture so she later told me "I think he's real now, I saw a picture" The kids actually went to bed well that night, I think we wore them out with tubing and intense house making. Christmas morning we opening presents at 7 AM, Oma made eggs for breakfast, and then we ate a delicious Christmas feast with Great Grandpa.
We stayed at my parents for a short 5 days and left again for home Sunday afternoon. Other highlights from the trip:
- the kids imitating the Polar Express with their chair train
- Maddie receiving endless attention from her aunts and uncles, especially aunt Julia
- tubing down the backyard hill (the kids think this is the best ever)
- driving to the park with mom holding the huge tube on the side of the car, and tubing down the "bowl"
- sage and maddie practice skiing
- swimming in the hot pool
- lots of game time and treats for the adults, especially dark chocolate
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