Gingerbread House EXTREME Makeover Edition

At first glance they seem fairly normal.  Cute, festive,lots of candy.  But take a closer look and you'll see gingerbread in a whole new way...

 Reindeer on the roof.  Nice touch.  A definite favorite of mine.

 Wow, are those real puffs of smoke coming out of the chimney?  They look a little like popcorn, but no, it's actually made from marshmallow.  That chimney is in serious danger of getting eaten before Christmas.

 Ok, so we've got some crazy stuff happening in the back of this house.  A pond, yes, oh, it's a palm tree next to it.  And a zipline?  Mmmhmm.  That's right.

 An American flag next to a Canadian Olympic mascot along with a mini trampoline.  Nice.

 Look at the cobblestone path leading up to the Christmas tree in the house being guarded by Frosty's friend, who by the way is ready to make his getaway on the sled nearby.

 Nice roof.  Eric and Wynter Cross's creation.

 Rudolph on the roof, Gavin Murray and his date.

Andre and Joscelyn Axthelm.  She said this was her best date ever.

On the Eighth day of Christmas...

This last picture is a preview of what's happening tonight.  Eight kids, now, eating dinner, decorating gingerbread houses and playing games.  Eight!  Wish me luck!

Gettin' the Tree

As we were driving to the Christmas Tree farm in west Mount Vernon, Eric and I reminisced about last year's escapade to get the tree.  Keith was super busy, so one evening Devin, Eric and I set off in Devin's truck to get the job done.  There are so many unfamiliar roads out in tree farm country that we were relying on Devin's GPS to guide us to our destination.  Apparantly the roads were unfamiliar to the GPS as well, cuz it guided us right up to a dyke with a dead end road!  Our navigation systems on our new phones worked much better this year, and we went to a farm we've cut a number of trees from, the place where they give you hot apple cider.  The weather was clear, just a cool breeze blowing, we all had our hats, thanks to reminders from Eric, and the search was on.  We picked out this beauty, and Eric did all the cutting himself, complete with the tree tackle method Devin used last year to knock the tree to the ground.  Yeah, we know how to milk a situation for all the fun you can possibly get out of it! 

On the way home we could be heard singing "Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches..."  as we drove out of sight.