December was a fun filled month in the Piland house as we dove head first into Christmas galore... decorating, movies, stories, cookies, and new Christmas traditions. Avery is at a really fun age (and Norah is young enough to contently watch or sleep through most of it) and I wanted to take full advantage of her eagerness to learn what Christmas is all about. We tried to strike a good balance between celebrating the importance of the true meaning - the joy and hope that came in the form of baby Jesus being born in a manger... and celebrating the fun and "magic" of the season - Santa, elves, gifts, making cookies, etc. While there were many hours spent playing with various toy nativities, reading books about baby Jesus, and talking about what all of that means, we also made sure to take some time to be silly, do some crafts and baking, and start a couple new traditions. My favorite thing we did (and I think Avery's favorite too) was build and decorate a gingerbread house. This isn't something that Erich or I did as kids growing up, but we thought it would be a fun and inexpensive family project to tackle each year. It was a blast! Erich assembled the house, I handled the frosting, and then we let Avery go at it with the candy... she did all of the decorating herself with the exception of one or two pieces that Erich and I stuck on there. The look on her face was priceless as she went to town with the candy (and occasionally snuck a piece to munch on). I can't wait to do this again next year (maybe Norah will even be able to participate a little by then). Please note that we did this first thing on a Saturday morning. If Erich and I look like we just rolled out of bed, it's because we did. And Avery has on two different outfits because she changes her clothes at least 3 or 4 times a day. It's fun being two!
Getting ready to start
Helping Daddy with assembly (ps- I don't know why I expected this to be a hard and stressful task. I had visions of the walls falling over and nothing sticking together right. It was so easy! Some may think it's cheating, but buying a kit is definitely the way to go.)
CANDY! The girl couldn't believe her eyes. We don't keep candy in the house, so this was an extra special treat!
Decorating. Avery did 99.9% of this part by herself. What a hoot!
Ta-da! I love every sloppy, imperfect, square inch of that little house because we made such fun memories doing it together.
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