Christmas Traditions: Gingerbread Houses

We have a few Christmas traditions in our home.  One of them is decorating gingerbread houses.  I usually buy the pre-made houses and some extra candies to go on them.  Sometimes the kids have decorated their houses at their grandparents' house in Louisiana.  This year they decorated them with friends.  I think this is their favorite way to hold the tradition.

I bought houses that were not only pre-made but also pre-assembled.  Easiest thing ever!  Just take off the cellophane wrapper and start decorating.  Several other kids had pre-made pieces but they were supposed to assemble them with icing.  Well, if you've ever done that then you know it is time consuming and tries your patience.  And then it all collapses in a mound of disappointment.  But my friends are so creative.  They took the kids' pieces and stuck them together with hot glue.  Not as edible as the traditional way but much more efficient!  You go, girls!

And these days, you don't have to just buy a gingerbread house.  No.  Now they have gingerbread barns, movie-themed gingerbread houses, gingerbread, Christmas trees, and even gingerbread trains!

They also had graham crackers and other cookies and candies in case friends wanted to just make their own crazy creations.

Nicholas assessed his house and the candy options and then decided on the best way to proceed.  He often takes his time with decorating gingerbread houses.  Last year, he enjoyed some crazy decorating for his house to make it look like a monster!

But this year he said he wasn't going to make a monster or anything crazy.  He just wanted to decorate it like a house.

While the boys were outside decorating their houses, the girls were inside decorating theirs.  

Gingerbread house decorating is serious business for these girls!

After decorating, everyone enjoyed pizza and fellowship with friends.

Finally, the kids had fun with an ornament exchange.  Everyone brings a wrapped Christmas ornament and they play a white elephant game to see which one each child gets to keep.

Nicholas ended up with a silly dog with a bow.  

Rachel was even less excited than Nicholas because her ornament was Superman.  And no, Nicholas did not want to trade with her.  He is a Batman fan all the way so he didn't want anything to do with Superman.  Silly kids!

What are some Christmas traditions in your family?

Painting with a Twist {Mom's Night Out}

Moms need time to refresh and renew.  My dear group of friends understand that so we try to schedule Mom's Night Out about once a month.  I dream of painting like Bob Ross so I always love it when we go on painting outings.  

For December we went to Painting with a Twist to paint a cute Christmas truck. Painting with a Twist is a cool place to spend a few hours with friends.  We had a private party so our group chose the picture we wanted to paint and scheduled the day and time that worked best for us.  You can bring your own snacks and drinks (yes, wine is fine!).  The instructor is at the front of the room and he walks you through step-by-step as he teaches you how to paint the selected picture.

It was so much fun painting with all of my sweet friends!  We talked as we painted and may have even cut up a little, perhaps encouraged by the wine.

And we all went home with a cute Christmas painting to hang on the wall.

This was my second class at Painting with a Twist and I just love it.  It is perfect for a Mom's Night Out or even a birthday party.

Mom's Night Out Painting Party

We have a wonderful group of homeschool families that we enjoy spending time with.  We go on field trips together, hang out at the park each week, and occasionally have Mom's Night Outs where Dads watch the kids and Moms get to have some fun time together.

We recently had an amazing Mom's Night Out!  One of our mom friends teaches painting classes at Michael's craft store so for our get together she taught us how to paint a picture of flowers in a round vase.  It cost about $25 per person and she provided all of the supplies that we needed.  We met at a friend's house and everyone brought an appetizer or dessert so we had some yummy treats while we worked.

We were taught step-by-step how to recreate the sample painting at the front of the class.  Here is my painting in the beginning stages.

I was a little slow and fell behind in the steps so I just winged it a little and did my own thing for part of it.

It was fun to see how everyone's picture was unique and different even though we were all trying to recreate the same painting and all following the same steps.