Gingerbread Housing

I have never, in my life (as I recall), made homemade gingerbread.

I don't think I ever decorated a gingerbread house in my home growing up.

But.

I have wanted to do them with my kids.  I was planning on doing it last year in December, but then our sweet babe came and we ended up spending lots and lots of time at the hospital with the surgery that ensued...and it never happened.

Friday was gingerbread day at our house.  

I made that the only real goal of the day -- and it's a good thing, cuz it's all we got done.  

But, oh! What fun we had!

 We lit the tree up and turned on holiday music and

 started mixing gingerbread.

 I bought a ridiculous amount of sugar.

 We made three individual houses, so they could each decorate their own.

Here are the cutouts for one house, fresh from the oven.

 We let them cool while we made icing, and then did the initial construction, letting the icing set up the basic structure.

Then, that evening, after dinner, we turned on holiday tunes again and all of us gathered at the table while they went to town.

Mr. C. and I were the "icing extraordinaires," helping the kids by piping it out of ziplock bags while they merrily set to designing.

 Here is Scott, helping Mia on her house...

 And the boys, working on theirs...

 And all three of them, working away.

 That evening, when the house was quiet, the finished products sat on the kitchen counter amid the glow of twinkle lights from the Christmas tree.

 I think it's a tradition we'll keep.

Today, I am preparing for Christmas Eve brunch tomorrow morning at my house.

Lots to do.

The children are happily playing.

I am going to make a huge vat of a pot of Russian tea.

And, it looks like this outside, which I'm pretty much loving.

Merry December 23rd!

December Traditions

We're expecting our own nativity around here any day, and it's pretty much all I can think about.

Today was spent cleaning my house: folding laundry, vacuuming, mopping the floor, cleaning the bathrooms, watering plants.

I love a clean house.

Mr. C. was out in the yard chainsawing fallen limbs from a snow storm a few weeks back.  The boys were happily helping him all afternoon: hauling wood, playing in a makeshift clubhouse he'd built them this morning in the yard while they were yet sleeping.  I am reminded quite often that he's a great dad.

Little Miss mostly followed me around and chatted throughout the afternoon.  Then we went out to walk for a half hour after I'd put dinner in the oven.  Isaiah went with us.  We walked our neighborhood streets and looked at the Christmas lights and chatted with each other.  It was peaceful and calm and I couldn't help but say aloud, 

"I love this time of year."

Last year, at the beginning of December, we started this tradition.

This year we're doing it again, but also adding something else into the mix.

Which necessitated my project of the last few weeks.

Made the pockets.

Covered each one with different Christmas papers.

Cut out squares for numbering 1 thru 24.

Glued on the numbers and hole punched each pocket.

Strung them together with raffia.

Strung it up underneath the holiday mantle.

 Selected advent readings for each day -- beginning with Christ being chosen as the Savior in the preexistence.

Tucked the readings inside.

Viola: the finished product!

The truly sweet part is what happens as we do this.

The natural questions that result, the testimonies that are borne, the spirit that is so strong in a room aglow with soft lights and warm, listening hearts.

It truly is magical.

After our scriptural reading, we read the first chapter from Dickens' book.

And you know what?

I remembered why this quiet evening ritual was my favorite part of December last year.

So happy to be doing it again.

Wreath Love

Last Saturday night I made the project I've only been waiting to do since last year when it came out in one of the fall issues of this magazine.

Here is my counter, supplies all spread out, before I began:

A big black bowl, full of the water/dye mixture.

A roll of paper towels to put under wet, dyed corn husks.

Gloves.

Corn husks.

A straw wreath form.

The picture from the magazine makes all the corn husks look so uniform.

I started in and was nervous I wasn't going to like it, because some husks took the dye better than others.  There were striations that were more white than colored.

But ah, as they started to dry, I could tell.

And the next morning I knew.

It was gonna be a love.

Monday afternoon, I hung it up.

 (closer up, you can see the various colors in the striations)

It's now the harvest welcome for the front door.

Yesterday's Top 10

Because I'm on a roll with the top-10 thing, I'm gonna post the top 10 loves of yesterday.

Morning exercise (how I run these days).

It was perfect: not too hot, not too cold.  Awesome.

Little Miss is independent on her two-wheeler sans training wheels, but wouldn't be able to quite keep up, so she rides in the stroller when we (I) go running. 

Both boys doing their math independently:

 Painting sugar pumpkins:

 Reading charts for this month...

 with fun Halloween stickers for the month of October...

Baking, in the late afternoon before dinner, and listening to the sounds of the kids outside with the neighborhood children, watching the filtered light through the yard:

 Watching the pampas grass wave in the wind...it was breezy and lovely all day...

Stories before bedtime:

 

(You can see evidence of all 4! children here)

Prepping (making) the kids' Halloween songbooks (one of our school Halloween activities) after they were in bed:

 Anticipating my weekend project for my front door that I'm so excited about...probably gonna do it on Saturday night when Mr. C.'s away at priesthood session...

And, lastly, THESE.

Oh. my. yummy.

I decided to bake some muffins yesterday afternoon and thought something fall-ish would be delish.

Searched some recipes, and decided on this one.

Ummmmm...if you're craving pumpkin and spice and everything nice...this is it.  

Bake some today!  

I modified this recipe just a titch from Taste of Home's recipe, but I'm listing it just as I made it.  The original recipe is here.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips 
• TOPPING:
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed

Mix muffin goods all together, and fill 12 greased muffin cups.  

 Then mix the dry ingredients for the topping together and cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender...

 til the mixture is crumbly.

Generously scoop over all the muffins (don't skimp!).

Then, bake at 375 degrees just til toothpick inserted comes out clean (don't overbake!!).  For me it was roughly 18 minutes.

Divinity in a bite, I tell you.

Dollhousing

Finishing this by this weekend.

Here are the finished walls and floors:

Coming Monday?  A post showing all the rooms, furnished, with an explanation on each room.

Doesn't it make you want to add a blast of color to your own house??