Amateur Night.....

Christmas Day always seems to be the loooongest day of the year. Yesterday was Christmas for us. It was a long day. Today was even longer. There wasn't the 2 hours of opening toys and stockings included. In pre-determining that today might be long and cabin fever might set in, I decided we'd attempt gingerbread houses. This is where "amateur" comes into play. I have either made a) store-bought-pre-packaged-with-all-the-goods gingerbread houses, or b) those made out of graham crackers glued to the side of a milk carton. The store was completely sold out of the kind I really wanted to make, and I'm at a loss as to where to find that many milk cartons. This year I went way out in left field and crafted my own out of graham crackers and cement-type icing I found on a friends blog. They turned out okay, nothing fancy, but the kids thought they looked awesome. Because they were obviously made by someone attempting this for the first time, I let the kids have a go with decorations however their little hearts desired. I didn't so much as flinch when all Jackson wanted to use was jelly-beans and nothing else. I wasn't phased in the slightest when Kennedy squeezed the piping tube so hard she frosted everything in her proximity. Landon consumed more than he 'glued' on, and would get kind of nasty if a child dipped their hands into his bowl to use his candy of choice. I was amazed at the creativity spun from my little people.

This activity will definitely be repeated next year. But maybe I can convince Pam to lend me some of her creativity? Our village just doesn't seem to look like hers does. (My kids will never be allowed to see the photos of Pam's village due to the fact they think I'm a genius and I don't want to spoil their fascination)