Gingerbread, Giggles, and Grins

Today is "build the gingerbread house" day. The monsters have been looking forward to this for weeks! I have decided, however, that the cute houses with all the filigree and the candy and the lil icicles and the chocolate Santa on the roof and the stepping stones made out of oyster crackers may not be the version we should build.We have our share of the crazy here. So when I came across the image to your left, I fell in love! Okay. Okay. It IS a halloween gingerbread house, but I could totally make it Christmas! The flying witch will remain.

For Logan, we have gotten graham crackers that are GFCFSFCF free, and made his icing with corn free powdered sugar, soy free earth balance spread, and water. The boy is in heaven. He's building, and all is well in his world. We DID have to tell him he really didn't need a hammer... The volume is a little out of control as blueprints are made and discarded, and the monsters banter back and forth about the perfect design.

Normally, I'm the control freak in the middle of it all trying to find Martha Stewart perfection. This year, I'm sitting back, listening, and watching, and enjoying myself thoroughly. This whole "Mom isn't allowed to do anything" thing is actually turning out pretty well. I'm enveloped in sensory awesomeness. Carols on sirius radio. Kids laughing. The scent of gingerbread. The excitment so thick you can almost reach out and touch it. Monsterlettes running around, wide eyed at the wonder of it all.

Tomorrow, we will start tracking Santa's progress around the world in Google Earth, beginning with the second the kids get up. We keep that window open on the monitor all day, and the monsters will check on him every few minutes. (helpful hint to Mom and Dad... TOTALLY helps with bedtime when Santa can be seen close to your area..)

I am blessed. So very blessed! And every minute that I see these monsters of mine with complete and total happiness on their shiny little faces (what? Bath time happens later.), and hear their whoops of delight when I tell them they can make the kitchen look like a war zone again, I am thankful. Looks like my heart has grown three sizes today.

all images in this post from the Google