Christmas Odds and Ends

Ok, so it is midnight and I should be in bed, but I wanted to post a few pictures. Last week we made Gingerbread houses with the nieces and nephews, and it was so fun (and hopefully some day I will post about it), but I was so busy helping the kids that I did not get to do my own. So tonight, the adults made houses while the kids played.

I love making Gingerbread houses! While mine are by no means professional, and I usually only spend an evening making it, it is a fun tradition that I have been doing for many years. Ems and I were the only ones that spent all night at it (which is why it is now midnight) so by the time we got around to taking pictures ours were the only ones left to take pictures of:

Here is Em's house--she is amazing! Unfortunately, you can't really see how detailed it is in the picture. Look at the decoration done in frosting on the front of  the house. She did that around the whole house. The roof is graham crackers, perfectly placed, and the lights around the roof are Christmas Cadbury eggs, cut in half. She really is creative. (One year she made a big church complete with stained glass windows, but that took a lot longer than just one evening.)

Here is my house.  Notice I copied Em's frosting decoration on the front of the house, although mine is not quite as precise. (I am not quite as patient as she is...) Mine is on a bigger board so I was able to do a little more with the yard. It sure was fun to make! I especially like the tree. You can't really see in the picture, but it is red and silver, and the same silver accents are on each post of the fence (suggested by Emilee, of course.)

On a totally unrelated note, I have to tell one more quick story. I ran in to the gift shop at the hospital last week and bought a little stuffed animal. I think it was $12 total. The cute pink lady told me that because I spent over $10, I qualified to be in a drawing for a nativity and pointed over to the side of the store to show me what they were drawing for. I couldn't really tell where she was pointing, even when I asked her again, but I decided it didn't really matter since there was not much chance of my winning it anyway. So, I filled out the ticket and went on my way.

A few days later, I got a call that I had won the drawing. I thought that was fun, especially since I have never won a drawing like that, but I still wasn't sure what I had won. I assumed it was just a little nativity.

Well, I went in to pick it up and they handed me this large box. When I opened it up, this was what I found:

It is actually a Demdaco nativity! I looked it up and it sells for around $75. I couldn't believe that I had actually won something so nice, and from just a quick trip in to the gift shop. I just thought I would share my fun news.

Well, I'm off to bed. I hope you are all enjoying this Holiday season. I am sure having fun!