Sweet Ending

Construction is COMPLETE on our 2009 Gingerbread Home. After a week of gingerbread....our kitchen counter is finally clean.....free of gingerbread templates, chimneys, frosting bags, sprinkles, and cups of sorted candies. Brett is in heaven....but secretly....I miss having a "project" in the middle of the kitchen island. (Don't worry.... a new project is already underway). Our final house is not really what we had in mind at the beginning...It may not look like Martha's "snow-swept cottage," it may not have faux "glass" windows made of homemade sugar syrup...but it smells heavenly and it was put together with gentle hands and loving hearts! Even Joseph contributed....apparently he decided the holly berries didn't go with our architecture, so he hastily removed them:)







So with the kitchen counter free of clutter, I decided today was a good day to "de-clutter" the rest of the house. I am aching to fill "good-will" bags before Christmas arrives. Unfortunately, I didn't get that far today. But I did get a few bathrooms cleaned, sheets changed, and the floors cleaned (at least until dinner time, anyway!) Sophia worked on Christmas crafts this afternoon and was thrilled to make a Christmas picture for Joseph. So funny how when he is sleeping...she wants to make him gifts and cards and anything her little mind can imagine. Too bad that concept of sharing doesn't permeate the rest of the day!!! :) She was pretty proud of the picture she made for his room today, though, and he was pretty happy to receive it!




We had baths and dinner a bit early tonight so we could make our annual drive to the "house on Falmouth St." If you haven't seen this house in Prairie Village...you must. They even put Clark Griswald's work to shame! The house is decorated with everything Christmas you can possibly imagine. Oh my. All I can think of every year when I see it is of course...where oh where do these people keep all of these knick knacks the rest of the year???? Surely they don't have every piece in an organized see-through labeled container in their basement. Oh my...thank goodness the world is not full of organized freaks like myself! Anyway...the kids LOVE looking at all the sights. Joseph could not get his eyes off the Santa that poked his very "life-like" head out of a window that opened and closed, and of course he couldn't get enough of the choo-choo trains. Sophia loved every part of the garage filled from front to back with Christmas decorations galore. She did not like, however, the Christmas tree that had eyes and lips. Trees aren't supposed to be that life-like in her mind, I guess! Besides the whining about how impossibly long it took for us to venture from our house all the way to Praire Village (ha!) and the cold, cold temps, we had a nice time oohing and aahhing over all the lights and decorations.

And there is almost nothing better than two sweet smelling kiddos in warm jammies marveling at the beauty of their own Christmas tree. A sweet ending to a long week!