Holidays // Gingerbread Houses

The other night, we did gingerbread houses. I wimped out this year and just bought one of those kits, and then we added some candy from the bulk bins at the grocery store - I hate ending up with tons of candy left over because then it's much too tempting to eat it! We listened to Christmas music, and as the evening progressed and the kids consumed more candy as they built their houses, the music seemed to get louder and the kids were just about bouncing off the walls :) They didn't actually fall sleep until well past eleven. Eleven-thirty for our resident night owl (that would be Aspen). We all had fun, and even though Hazel didn't get to sneak any candy, she was sure happy about being part of everything, crawling around the living room, dancing a song here or there with Mama or Daddy. I love these little traditions. As Christmas draws near (three more sleeps!) I can't help but think about all the fun we've had this month with all of our different little advent activities. We have to be flexible at times, like when unexpected things like a fever creeps in one night, or friends invite us to join them for some fun, but for the most part we stick to our little list. It makes it fun for everyone, and while I designed all of it with the kids in mind, we end up having a blast right along with them :)

PS - Sawyer insisted on wearing his skeleton pjs, even though I reminded him those are more in the Halloween genre. Part of me wanted to insist right back that he wear something more holiday appropriate - but I just let it go. Sometimes you just gotta roll with it, right? He was having a blast jumping around in his skeleton pjs, wearing jingle bells. It made for a cute and fun memory of our four year old boy!