we waited until christmas eve to do gingerbread houses in 2023. not sure why. i assume time just got away from me. but it made for a lovely christmas eve activity. messy. sugary. but lovely.
i premade the houses with graham crackers, added a sugar cone tree, bought a million decor items, and we got to work.
as per her usual, anna created a murder scene. of course hazel followed her lead. ike got frustrated and quit pretty early on. derek made a snowball fight scene. and i attempted to cover every surface in sugar.
christmas mornings start a little later around here these days. i’m usually up, because in a cruel twist of fate, now that my kids finally sleep in, i am unable to get past 5am, so i get to have a little bit of alone time before the madness.
eventually the kiddos rustled themselves out of bed, posed for the obligatory christmas morning photo, and began the materialism mayhem.
it was 367 days ago, but i assume everyone was quite pleased with their hauls. ike got a good amount of bills gear. anna got a yo gabba gabba hoodie that i kept pretty top secret, so her reaction was fantastic. hazel added to her collections of harry potter items and stuffed animals.
once the presents were all opened and the mess cleaned up, we spent the rest of the day eating. literally. i do remember this. firstly, a giant breakfast feast.
and then later a prime rib dinner. derek’s parents joined us for that part. in between, it was cookies and candy, and after there was pecan pie cheesecake and orange cranberry poundcake. it was gross. and delicious.
also. it would be a huge failure on my part if i did not mention the pom pom making that took place throughout the day. derek’s mom had gotten me a pom pom maker set for christmas a few days before, and we spent a solid week or two, including christmas day, making all sorts of pom poms. for what purpose, you ask? well, we were unsure at the time, but i can now safely say that they were for no purpose whatsoever.
