Little Gingerbread Town

This is my favourite time of the year, I am in craft overdrive, and I find lots of inspiration and ideas everywhere I go.

I feel like I have more energy then normally, and I do love everything Christmas...

We love doing little extra things, to make a normal Saturday extraordinary and fun, just staying home, being with each other, talking, laughing, and making lots of memories.

I have said before that this holiday is probably the hardest for me, being out of my element, and my own surroundings and familiarity - and let's face it, I am out of control.

So I decided to "control" the things I can - like gingerbread houses, we can make those anywhere, any time, and it promises to be a great time, so that is exactly what we did....

And this year we had the added bonus of help - ouma & oupa were on board, and we spent the afternoon with them, and it was fun, and the kids loved it.

I am happy our Saturday was a laid back, just hanging out kind of Saturday, no crazy errands, no to-do-lists, and no entertaining - just family, it was perfect.

We created a whole village, and some gingerbread village men and women, and it was a huge success.

Nate is usually in charge of "gluing" the house together, and his helpers are usually eager to help.

And now the decorating can begin. This is of course their favourite part,because they get to eat some candy in the process, oh they get to lick the sticky of their fingers. Hayleigh lasted till the last minute an improvement from last year.

I love the kid's creativity and the things they design. I am also so amazed at how different they are - Ian is my child, meticulous and precise, he is amazing. Hayleigh is a little more free spirit, and more laid back, but so much fun. We have an even division in our family, and it works great.

This year we had the absolute joy of having a little help. Ouma and oupa joined us for an afternoon of fun, and I am so happy to say, I am pretty sure that everyone including them, had a great time. The kids will definitely remember it. It has been special sharing the holidays with family.

The aftermath, a huge sticky mess, with so much confetti candy and floor, that I had cringe every time some would stick to my bare feet. But this mess, was worth it, a whole new booklet of memories created is always worth it.