Our family is FULL of traditions; sometimes I think we have too many-it can get overwhelming to keep up. However, one thing I have learned is that when you do something as a family, even just ONCE, if it is FUN and MEMORABLE, suddenly it is a "tradition." And should you think that maybe the "fun, memorable" activity can just be a one-timer, you just might hear comments like, "But Mom, we ALWAYS do (insert fun, memorable activity) for (insert occasion of your choice.)" Now we have MANY family tradition that have gone on for MANY years (see previous post on the Hardy Party.) But one which fits the description above is gingerbread-house-making. We did it once before, and now this year it was a "required" part of our Christmas celebration. We divided into teams and had a delightful time building houses out of graham crackers. (Nope, we didn't do the real gingerbread-I did that once, and once was enough.)
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| The fam working on our houses |
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| Team Dallin and Trent They had a rather difficult time-at one point they had the glue gun and duct tape out. I am pretty sure that their house was NOT edible by the time they finished. |
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| Team Kaylee and Lynae They set out to build a cool two-story house. However, the canned store-bought frosting made it very UNstable. (I should have made the "real" royal icing for "glue.") But Lynae felt like she and Kaylee made a great "team" and worked well together (unlike the year she was teamed with Analise who didn't let her do anything and then thought the snowman she made was a penguin. Analise had instructed Lynae to work on "lawn decor" for their house, and Lynae made a snowman. Analise commented, "Oh that's cute, what is it? A penguin?" Analise will never live that comment down, and Lynae will probably never choose Analise as a gingerbread house partner again.) |
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| Kay trying to stabilize Kaylee and Lynae's unstable two-story house. Kay was SUPPOSED to be teamed with Kent, but felt guilty that she had not made the good, strong "royal" icing for house building and thus spent most of the night trying to help salvage the cool, but unstable house which Kaylee and Lynae built. (It kept collapsing). (Can mothers EVER enjoy anything without guilt? If someone knows how-please let me know.) |
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| Team Analise and Luke. Luke was fine with being on a team with Analise since he said he didn't care if he helped build or not; he just wanted to "snitch" the decor candy and frosting. Analise did assign him to make a doghouse, but I don't think it was ever completed. |
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| Finished product team Kent and Kay (mostly entirely Kent-although Kay did help with the back side of the roof.) At least THIS year Kent didn't grind up his extra crackers for a SANDBOX! Last year he did so, JUST so Analise and Lynae could not use them to make their house bigger. He is such a tease, and a bit competitive as well. Sometimes it's like having 7 kids. |
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| Finished product team Analise and Luke. Luke's dog house had to be thrown away before the picture was taken because it was an eye-sore. But Luke did add a few more peppermints to the path (against Analise's wishes.) |
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| Finished product Team Dallin and Trent Not sure what the licorice and frosting is to the side of the house. They did say their house was a "witch tower"-maybe the licorice is some sort of witchcraft sign :) |
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| Finished product team Kaylee and Lynae Kay is trying to stabilize the house. It kept crashing down, but it WAS very cool. Still sorry I didn't make royal icing. Next year fam, next year. |
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