Gingerbread Houses at Grandma's House

One of my favorite Christmas traditions (I know, I know, can I really say that?  They're ALL my favorite!) is decorating homemade gingerbread houses at my Grandma Elwood's house.  This year we had a big bunch of Elwoods show up on Saturday the 15th for what turned out to be an Aggie Bowl Game Watch Party Slash Gingerbread Building Party (Plus Happy Anniversary to My Parents, to boot!).  It was epic!  (The game and the gingerbread.)  We met for a yummy soup, rolls and cheeseball lunch.  Then, after the lunch was cleared away, we spread out the candy - this was heaven for the kiddos (Bradley, especially, settled right in to the all-you-can-eat buffet, stuffing his face with all kinds of sugary treats).  And during all the eating and visiting and decorating and sugar high-ing, we were also watching the Ags utterly dominate in their last football game of quite a plentiful scoring season.  So fun!

Watch party!

Macie is back there getting ready for the houses, though.

  

Sisters!

Candy helpers.

House buildin' and Aggie cheerin'.

Callie has been planning and designing her house in her
head for days.  One night at bedtime she told me, "Mom, my
gingerbread house is only going to have Christmas colors on it,
not like that random four-year-old stuff."  :D  (Those plans
were flexible, though, it turned out, once she actually saw the
array and got down to work.)

  

Busy little (and big) elves.

  

All done!

  

A five-year-old's gingerbread house perfection.

  

Builders (clockwise from the back left):
Kylie, Michael, Macie, MaKinna, Chiara, Mugs,
Grace, Sam, Bradley, Calvin, Emory, Callie, Evy

(Great) Grandma always has little presents for
the kiddos.

  

Christmas baskets (I think this was the final distribution -
there was much trading and bargaining going on between
the kids for a few minutes there).

Playing "reindeer games" aka "ring the gack"
(which, when I look it up, looks amazingly
close!).

Sam's finished house (minus a few pieces of
candy he's eaten since he actually finished it).
Gregg got creative with a wafer cookie when
the front piece of gingerbread broke a bit during
construction.

Callie's finished front.