Gingerbread & Christmas Eve

One day while Michael was home during December, I let the boys make gingerbread houses. Mikie was all into his and having a great time decorating it. Zachary just enjoyed eating the candy while Daddy decorated his. Michael tells me that this is the first gingerbread house he ever remembers making. I'm sure he made them as a kid, but just doesn't remember. Proud of their creation!

Of course, this year Mikie had to have numbers on his house again and insisted that I take a picture of every side to document his hard work.




Christmas eve we dressed up and went to church. This was the first time we took Zachary to the service with us. Both boys sat very nicely until the very end. It was a candlelight service, so while we were singing everyone lit their candles, the lights dimmed, and the boys starred wide eyed at the glowing flames. As the congregation sang the final chorus of Silent Night, the time came to blow out the candles. Mikie blew mine out and Michael blew his out (without thinking!) which sent Zachary into a shrieking tantrum because he didn't get to blow one out. We quickly ushered him out and found another flame to relight the candle for his turn. I can guarantee Michael won't ever blow out another Christmas Eve candle! When we got home, the boys opened their Christmas Eve gifts (new jammies) and put them on to go sprinkle reindeer food on the driveway. Can you tell by the picture that it was quite frigid out?

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Then it was time to put out the milk, cookies, and carrots (for the reindeer).

Zachary couldn't help but snitch a little bedtime snack. But, he didn't reach for the cookie; he had a carrot instead!

We always place our plates for Santa next to our nativity because Santa looks for that first when he goes to each house. The boys used their plates that they made at our Christmas party.