Day 21: New Traditions
Last night we had my family over for part one of our Christmas get together. We'll tackle ornament night tomorrow night I think...but for last night we tried something new. Inspired by a project that the Girl has done for a couple of years at school, we decided to give "gingerbread houses" a whirl. I use quotations because we used graham crackers instead of gingerbread. I absolutely love watching my family come together when the creative juices are flowing. The outcome is across the board. We had a dream cottage, Frank Lloyd Wright inspired architecture (Falling Frosting?), mobile home, train, Golden Temple (complete with turbaned guards), abstract homes, trees...and you can't discount the 'gingerbread' teepee...
It was great to watch the frosting fly as the sibling rivalry started to kick in. I'm not even talking about our kids...I'm talking about my adult siblings. Nothing makes you strive for greatness like scoping out your sib's progress across the table. It was all in good fun, and by the end of the night we had quite a village. The coolest thing is that not one of them really like a typical gingerbread house even though all of the materials for adornment were the same. It's been a while since we added a new tradition to our normal holiday routine as a family. I was so giddy by the end of the night, because it went off without a hitch, and it seemed like everyone had a blast.
So hooray for trying new crafts and hooray for my family that is up for giving my crazy ideas a try even at the end of long work days.
On a side note, the closer we get to the end of this year the easier it seems to see the blessings around me. I don't know if it's just the pervasive holiday cheer or the fact that my man has a little more time to chill with us around the house, but it feels so...right. Even amidst all of the craziness if I take a breath and sit for a second, the underlying feeling is one of joy and love for one another. The anticipation for Christmas morning is building, as to be expected. We'll spend most of tomorrow trying to make the time go faster, filling the hours with baking, wrapping and ornament making. Just. Can't. Wait.