Gingerbread houses

Yesterday the kids and I finally were finally able to make our gingerbread houses. It was late in the evening after shopping most of the afternoon for food. Grocery shopping is my all-time least favorite chore. Anyway after putting all the food away we got out the kit. Jesse was super excited about it after pleading with me for over a week to put them together. I had bought the kit some time in November and hadn't bothered with it since. We were quite surprised that when the box said five mini houses, they really meant it! These houses towered a whopping 3 to 4 inches.

Jesse's house with help from mom. We had a bit of difficulty getting the chimney to stay put. It kept sliding slowly down the roof until the icing set.

Kylie's house. She kind of gave up on it, deciding that playing with friends was a better use of her time.

Ally's house. She was last to decorate, so she used whatever was left and still managed to make it look wonderful.

Emily's house is the most like the picture on the box. It's cute and more detailed... adorable and just fun to look at.

Zac never came down to make his... too busy leveling-up on WOW.

The kids had fun and I enjoyed watching their creativity. Now I have three mini houses (Jesse ate his) to show off! I found it quite funny that after putting the "snow" on our little houses I woke up to this all over the neighborhood.

Christmas pretties

My countdown calendar I made with a Making Memories kit. I found the frame (which was once green) at DI and stapled some chicken wire to the back so I can tie on the little envelopes. Maybe next year I will add fun little things for us to do in a few of the pockets.

My family tree. It looks a little less hodge-podge this year due to buying new red and gold ornaments. I also bought four bushes of pointsettias (hope I spelled that right), cut them apart and shoved them in there as well to give it some variation. Please ignore the mess in the background. :D

Ididn't realize how blurry this photo was on my phone's screen... well, anyway i really love my tree. This is the one that is mine, all mine to decorate as I please and sit in the front room for all those who drive by to see.

I finally have enough stuff to fully deck out the nook above the entry-way closet. This place gets a lot of viewing since my stairs wrap around it and by the time you are half way up the stairs all of this is at eye level. I think my favorite piece is the Santa hanging for his life off the ledge. His hands and feet are weighted so he can hang just about anywhere by his hands or feet!

This is my new favorite ornament. Jesse gave it to me yesterday after school. It's just a plain glass ornament but his teacher helped the kids in his class paint their hands white, place those sweet hands onto the ornament and after drying the paint let them decorate the handprint fingers into cute little snowmen. this cute ornament came with this poem:

These aren't just five snowmen as anyone can see,

I made them with my hand which is a part of me.

Now each year when you trim the tree,

you'll look back and recall Christmas of 2010 when my hand was just this small!

Okay, it really doesn't flow but I still think it's cute.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Just a few pictures of some of the stuff I've got up around the house. I love decorating for the holidays, and better yet finding a great deal on fun things to add here and there.

Christmas is coming...

And I'm not ready. Just seven more days to fa-la-la, wrap gifts, bake treats, and stress about what you still need to get if you're like me.
Today I think I'll be getting the rest of the shopping done and tomorrow the kids and I will attend church and make gingerbread houses. I'll let you know how they turn out.
I hope you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season!