Gingerbread houses and Christmas baking

It would have been real easy to say we didn't have time for gingerbread houses this year. But we skipped it last year, and the truth, is I like doing them too! Plus they make great decorations. Just like the Christmas tree, we made them on a Sunday morning before church. This explains why everyone is in their jammies with funny bedheads.  

Brennan and Levi shared a house. Next time I'll have to make more dough so they can each have their own; they were the first ones done, and they wanted to keep going.

 The older boys took a lot of time on theirs, and they turned out great!

 Chloe did her part to eat the candy.                                Spencer just woke up!

 Needless to say, we were a little rushed getting ready for church. But it was worth it!

  

Dallin didn't finish his that day. He spent a lot of time crushing candy canes. 

Classic Levi expression! It's my job to assemble the houses. 

I did this really smart thing this year (mostly because we were running out of time and icing), where I put the houses together without the roofs. Then a day or so later I added them. This worked better because they were WAY more stable by that point. I'll have to remember it next time!

 You can't rush art.

Cute!

Adorable! From clockwise starting at top left: Brennan, Spencer, Tyler, Spencer, Levi, Dallin, Tyler

Now on to Christmas baking. This is always one of the last things I do to get ready for Christmas. I made two batches of fudge this year because we gave most of the first batch to their teachers. I made it one evening when everyone was either at play practice or in bed, and they were all so disappointed in the morning that they didn't get to help. So it was a good thing we needed that 2nd batch!

I think mostly they like eating the marshmallow cream.

I have to laugh at my long-haired boys when I look at these pictures. They tell me they looked like The Beatles.

We went caroling a few days before Christmas, and Spencer and Tyler took turns playing sax/violin. That's always a fun tradition. I did this other smart thing - I made a quadruple batch of sugar cookies a few weeks before Christmas and froze them. Then all I had to do was defrost and ice a few before we ate them or handed them out. It saved a ton of time!