Christmas Magic: Our Candy Village

      This morning, John stayed home and we made a mini-village out of graham crackers, frosting, and candy.  I gave up making a real gingerbread house this year - it seemed like so much work.  So, I settled for this, and as it turns out, it wasn't settling at all. The fun had by all was well worth the sacrifice.  I used hot glue to construct the houses while the girls watched VeggieTales and John found the right size cardboard for our village.  Then, it was time to decorate.  I set Bella up in the high chair at the table and kept feeding her a steady supply of different kinds of cereal and candy which kept her happy most of the while.
      Also, she has started smiling like this when you take her picture.  Hilarious.





I put John in charge of the landscape.  What began with a knife, ended with a tiling trowel.  He kept saying, "We are not going to eat this, right?"  Also, he wanted this picture taken and for it to have the caption, "When Men Craft."  Over the top?  Certainly.  Really funny?  Most definitely.  (Yes, those are ear-plugs.  You know, to keep out the Christmas music so he can concentrate.)



Lily enjoyed everything most thoroughly.  She is loving Christmas time this season.  Yesterday, she was listing off the characters of the nativity and said, "There was Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus and the Wise Men and the Camels and the Alligators . . ."  I hadn't ever realized that the stable was actually near a swamp.  Learn something new all the time.




As John was taking these pictures

Bella got sick of it all, and then when we looked over, Lily had created a Sprinkle Tsunami near her little cottage.

Sprinkle Tsunami 2011





In spite of our setbacks (called children), we managed to complete our village in time for John to leave for work.  And, fun was had by all.  And, our table only looked slightly crazy when it was all said and done.  In the next picture, where I wanted to capture the mess, Bella is playing peek-a-boo with her tray.  What she doesn't realize is that the tray is transparent.  We can still see you, silly girl.




Though these do not echo the beauty and craft of my past gingerbread houses, this was a lot of fun, and I was so thankful for the help of everyone involved.  John asked, "Does this feel like Christmas magic to you?  Cause I want to get all of the Christmas magic points I can this morning."  I told him he did.  We can mark "gingerbread" Christmas magic off the list for this year.





(The cottage that John decorated was the mostly green one.  He said, "That is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Green.  They have two kids, Cash and Money and they are expecting a third.  He will be called Benjamin."  Yes, crafting with guys is definitely different.  But, oh so fun.)