Turkey, Gingerbread and Grandpa's Lights

I've always been amused by holiday meals. One spends 6+ hours in the kitchen preparing a wonderful meal and a mere 45 minutes of uninterrupted eating can totally decimate all of the cook's masterpiece. The best compliment to the chef? When one hears from an honored guest "full belly = nap time". This year we had no guests, honored or otherwise, but that didn't stop me from overcooking as always.

After dinner, we crafted our first gingerbread house. The gingerbread house represents several miracles. First, that it is indeed standing. Our construction attempts last year were in vain, possibly due to a poor foundation. The second miracle is that the kids actually assisted in this endeavor while keeping the gingerbread intact. The most divine intervention of all is that with three kids helping decorate there was any candy left at all to put on the house rather than in their mouths! Oh and also that the cat hasn't consumed it yet!

We have also completed our outdoor decor with a few new additions. We added my old skates to the sled on the porch and to our usual miniature white lights we combined many, many strands of vintage red lights to make one working string of Grandpa Andy's beloved retro red lights front row, center. It just wouldn't be Christmas without them and Christmas will forever be different without Grandpa. What a legacy you have left for us to live up to Grandpa. We all have quite the responsiblity to make sure your great grandchildren have Christmases like you made for us.