Gingerbread houses

Sometimes you start a tradition without realizing it's going to be a tradition. Such is the case with our gingerbread houses. I started making these when my kids were in elementary school, and it's stuck.

Last night Carli and I decided to make the house that's going to be in our home so the kids could see the possibilities. We had a blast being creative. Once we got the house done, we wanted a fence and didn't have any pretzels so we went to the store and took care of that matter.

Camber brought the kids down today after school. They were pumped and ready to get started. I had their house assembled and all we had to do was put the frosting and candies on it. I learned a few years ago that whatever they do to it, it's adorable, so I let them be as creative as they wanted to be. We couldn't get the gumballs to stay on the windows, so I had to nix whole gum balls and cut them in half.

Jacob made three kids, and we all know what they say about three being a crowd. Carli fixed that little problem in short order and put a graham cracker house together on a plate for him to decorate. He was happy as a clam, i.e. one candy for the house, one for the mouth. His little house actually turned out really cute.

Jefferson was hanging out in various places in the house while all the action was going on. Camber was working on curtains for Tyler's bedroom, so he just jumped in his bouncer for a while. That little guy is so happy all the time. It takes hardly any effort at all to get a laugh out of him.