We made a gingerbread house from scratch this year. I baked the pieces and assembled the structure on the 23rd. We decorated it on the 24th and started destroying it on the 25th. The kids had a lot of fun with it. I was determined to be a nicer person about it this year and let them tell me where they wanted the "glue" as they put their candy pieces on. This kind of project is really for fun and memories. There is no way to get your money's worth out of it because who can really eat that much candy? (And what mother would want their kids to even try it?)
Joseph liked the gingerbread men we made with the left over dough. He had to show one to the camera. Wow...he has a messy face. What's even on his forehead?
Here is a shot of Sarah taken after I'd finally finished shoring up the walls of the gingerbread house. She'd been fussing but I couldn't get to her and she eventually gave up on me. Sorry Sarah! You're very cute, though!
Setting up for Christmas morning wasn't too hard. Nothing had to be assembled, thankfully. The most time came at the computer when I was trying to get my Santa Claus to look like he was really in the living room. The picture (found in the previous post) was a big hit with the kids. Daniel now knows that Santa lives in spirit and that his parents are very active elves, but he wasn't sure how we'd gotten that picture. He thought maybe Chad had dressed up but I ruined his idea by telling him we don't own a Santa suit. He has to have some Christmas mystery!
I had to nudge Chad at 1:40 AM and tell him that the kids were up. I know Christmas morning comes early, but let's have some standards! He put them back to bed (they'd woken up Joseph, too) and they slept past 6. That was my Christmas present!
It didn't take Joseph too long to get into the swing of opening presents. He was more than willing to help others open their gifts, too.
It took us about 2 hours to get everything open. We kept making them clean up paper and we did have a short intermission (bathroom break) where they took what they'd already opened to their rooms. Overall, it was a good morning.
Sarah just hung out. Joseph helped her open most of her presents. :)
Sunday afternoon, we drove to Hagerman to visit with family. The drive was one of the best ones we've had. I have 4 episodes of "Little House On the Prairie" to thank for that. I didn't get too many pictures there because the camera batteries were dying.
Here is one of Aunt Pamela reading a story about horses/ponies to the kids. I had to take a picture here because of Leah's face. It was a tense moment in the story and Leah is in love with horses, so she was emotionally involved in the reading. I plan to laugh over this picture for YEARS! :)
We got to visit with Uncle Shawn, too. We only get to see him once a year (sometimes two), so the kids look forward to seeing him. He's also very hard to get a picture of. This one was taken on the sly. (For sale to the highest bidder!) Here he is with Sarah. He's such a great uncle. I can't wait to see him have his own family.
The drive home was a little less peaceful, but I also put a nix on the videos. We made a couple of stops on the way home, which added about 2 hours to the trip, but still got home before dark (my new requirement for traveling with these kids). I was glad to get home before the snow that started falling that night and covered the roads by morning.
Our bonfire-ready Christmas tree was taken outside yesterday. We got all the Christmas decorations packed and put in the garage. I even cleaned up my bedroom. Now the closet doors shut!
I've already started planning gifts and projects for next Christmas. I figure this is the best way to get those little things done that I always want to do, but never have enough time to finish. This week, we've been making a board with knobs to hang stockings from. Did you notice that they were just on the back of the couch in the Santa picture? Chad has really done the work, and I've done the directing. I'll post a pic when "we" get it done, just before "we" stick it in the garage for the year!
Other plans are to make new stockings (possibly cross-stitch names for each), make a new tree skirt, and start on gifts for the family now so I can give something nice and not something I came up with in a desperate and penniless moment.
Meanwhile, regular life goes on. This is why I plan to use the whole year to prepare for Christmas! Leah turns 6 on Saturday. I need to get her cake done. Horses...must have something to do with horses.
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