Gingerbread Train and Caroling

Last year, we did our first gingerbread house as a family. One of our Secret Santa families dropped it off on our doorstep. (Thank you and you know who you are!) The babies had so much fun working on it, and I loved the memories from it.

I remember my OCD was on high alert, because we had to try and stay clean, while following the directions, and making it look like an actual house.

Well, we didn't stay clean. We tried to follow the directions. And it looked like a gingerbread house, enough.

This year, when Jack saw it in the store, he decided that "We need to get one for Micah (a friend from church) and one for us. It was so easy to do. I'm REALLY good at them."

I was touched by his sweet little heart, and super amazing confidence, so I bought it. (This kid knows how to work me over, bad.)

Tonight for FHE, we busted out the gingerbread train. I told the babies the same thing - we need to stay clean and follow the directions.

Two minutes into "following the directions" I gave up. Their cute little faces didn't care if it looked like a train. They didn't want to wait while things dried. They just wanted to be creative and have fun. So, they did. They got dirty. They were creative. They had fun.

While they were perfecting their creations, they were saying such kind things to each other. They were sharing. They were trying to sneak candy, thinking I couldn't hear them whispering.

Jocelyn and I just sat back listening, enjoying every minute. It was quite cute.

After we finished our supposed "gingerbread trains," we decided to go caroling. If you know our family, you know that NONE of us can sing. At ALL!

In a hotel, I didn't want to disrupt the guests in their rooms, because I couldn't be sure that they even celebrate Christmas, or were even occupied. We chose to sing to the concierge. (They ALL love my babies!)

While singing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, they joined in, and so did a few guests from the dining hall. It was very fun, and funny.

We screwed up the words and were completely out of tune, but oh well. We followed Buddy the Elf's words of wisdom, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear."

Tonight's FHE was much needed. We finished the evening watching clips on lds.org and mormonchannel.org that remind us what Christmas is truly about, our Savior's birth.