Gingerbread Houses

Finally, I’ve managed to get the gingerbread houses together.  I’ve been a lazy bum this week — just hanging out and not doing much at all.  It seems like I’ve cleaned a lot, but you’d never know it by looking around here.

This year’s competition was pretty tough.  The top players came prepared with a theme in mind, which made it really fun.  The good news is that everyone kept it clean this year (no strip bars or frat houses!)  The bad news is that everyone kept it clean this year — which translates to:  not as funny.  Everyone topped the creativity scales and had a really good time though, so it was all worth it!

TheManoftheHouse and I were the defending champions from last year and we came in Dead. Last. Not one vote.  It was fixed!  We didn’t really have a plan, but when I saw the pretzels, I thought we should do a log cabin in honor of our pioneer ancestors.  And every log cabin has a clothesline outside, right?

My nephew brought a guest to the competition (a girl! – she had fun, she’d never made a gingerbread house before) and they made the Tinsel Town Theater.  You’ll notice that Up is currently running on the marquis and there is plenty of popcorn and candy for all the people standing in the ticket line.

Between the next two houses, I can’t remember who came in second and who came in third.  (I’m sure SweetiePie knows though!)   CrazyBIL and my youngest niece teamed together and created Santa’s Sleighwash.   Check out the cupcake liner door flaps and the dirty sleigh going into the sleighwash and the clean sleigh coming out of the sleighwash.  So Clever!

TheFirstChild and SweetiePie always have a theme and this year was no different (we’ve decided next year that the honeymoon is over and we’re going to split them up.)  They made a Jump School to commemorate the fact that they went skydiving in August of this year (and lived to tell about it).  Oh So Cute!  Look at the little skydivers and the airplane.  And doesn’t SweetiePie have pretty icing-writing?

And Tah-Dah!  The First Place winners this year were MyDadLovesMeBestSister, BigDaddy, my oldest niece and TheSecondChild. (Ha!  I’m thinking they won due to being the biggest team – I’m not bitter or anything LOL!)  MyDadLovesMeBestSister achieved her Master Gardener status this year, so to celebrate, they created a Garden Shed.   The flower pots and little candy trees on the front are enough to melt any voter.  Not to even mention the compost pile, butterflies on the left side of the house and the Koi Pond behind the house.   Congratulations Team Garden Shed!

I’m so proud of my little family.  When we first started decorating gingerbread houses years ago, they used to slap the frosting on the houses and make a big mess.  I love seeing how much thought and creativity they put into the houses now!

So.  On to the New Year!  I’ve bemoaned the fact that November and December flew by.  And 2009 too.  But to heck with that.  What happened to the last decade?

Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were partying at the turn of the millennium???  As I look forward to 2010, I just have one big wish — I want time to Slow. Down.  That one big wish would facilitate all the little ones (more family time, quilting, knitting, reading, yadda, yadda).

And one other big wish for all of you — a Happy and Healthy 2010.  Happy New Year!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Christmas is over already?  It came and went so fast I practically missed it.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  Thank you so much for all your great comments over the last week.  I usually try to answer all of them, but I’m so far behind this year that I’m going to have to skip it.  I started to read a few blogs this morning, so hopefully I’ll catch up with all of you before New Year’s Eve.

As I mentioned last time, we had our family’s annual gingerbread competition on the 23rd.  Our houses this year reflected the kind of Christmas we had — chaotic!  I think MyCrazyBIL’s heart attack and the power outage that had everyone living here for three days sort of threw us all off this year.   Despite my best intentions, I didn’t have time to make the gingerbread until the day of the 23rd, so it didn’t have a lot of time to dry out.  That caused problems in the roof department for a few of the houses.  The houses weren’t as pretty as last year, but the males in the group lived up to their rowdy reputation.  Read on at your own risk!  (If you’re brave enough, you can click on each picture to make it bigger too.)

The team of MyCrazyBIL and my nephew were the first to have roof failure.  They tried to compensate by creating a pyramid type house, but it just wasn’t cooperating.  I think they should get an honorable mention for best use of candy wrappers in an attempt to cover up the crumble-age.  They also indicated that some sort of candy bomb went off in the backyard which critically injured the marshmallow snowman.

MyDadLovesMeBestSister and my youngest niece also had roof failure, so they compensated by building an open-air gingerbread house.  And if you have an open air house, it only makes sense to have a camp fire in your living room.  They get a BIG prize for creativity in the face of disaster!

Last year’s defending champions, the bride and groom, always build a house with a theme.  They got married last year, so it was a wedding chapel.  In honor of their med-school suffering this year, they built a hospital.  Complete with a helipad and an injured patient in a wheel chair.  They had good roof and gable pieces but they decided to cut them up for a non-traditional gingerbread house shape.

Last year, I was teamed with my oldest niece and TheManoftheHouse was with TheSecondChild. We swapped this year in an attempt to break up a rowdy all male team. Shockingly, it didn’t work, and my sweet and innocent niece was happy to create a strip bar with TheSecondChild. Rumor has it that it may have been her idea. Naughty, Naughty!  Even worse, they took third place in the voting.

Coming in in second place were MeMum and BigDaddy who had a cute little house.  They decided to have the main entrance be on the side of the house and they created a drive in house.  We weren’t sure exactly what sort of drive in it was though.  I love their gumdrop Christmas lights.

And the first place winners this year were TheManoftheHouse and me.  I decided that since the bride and groom always have a themed house, we should have one too, so naturally it had to be a quilt shop.  (‘Cause I knew there was no way TheManoftheHouse was going to agree to have a Blog House LOL.)  In keeping with the mess that was this year, we petered out before we got the back of the house decorated.  We did, however, manage to get the all-important sale table of fabric strategically placed out front where all who passed by would notice!

Oh, and here’s a close-up of MeMum and BigDaddy’s star on top of their house.  They get kudos for best use of a Christmas cookie.

So, our houses were very messy this year, but we all had a great time.  There was a TON of laughing and joking around.  And it wasn’t long before someone’s fat little hand was pinching the goodies off of the houses!

Coming up next — a blogiversary!

XOXO,
Anna

Wow. It’s the last day of 2007 already. We had a fun year here in Thimbleannaland. I’m once again very grateful for a good year in which we all managed to stay healthy. You can’t really ask for much more than that!

To finish off the holiday season, we finally managed to get together for our annual gingerbread house competition. (I know you’ve all just been waiting on pins and needles for the results LOL!) I’d like to apologize ahead of time for the inappropriate behavior of some of my family — hang in there to get past the offensive parts!

The defending champion frat team of TheSecondChild and TheManoftheHouse (along with one of TheSecondChild’s friends) continued this year with the party theme. They created a bar, complete with malfunctioning neon lights, jam wrestling, a bucking bronco and a bartender. (Apparently, a bar was their concession to clean things up….rumor has it that a brothel was in the works. Men.)

Appropriately, MyCrazyBIL and my 13 yr. old nephew created a Funny Farm. Their accessories included a gingerbreadman in a straight jacket and a crazy lady escaping out the back window while an inmate looked up her skirt.

In an attempt to bring a little dignity back to the competition, MyDadLovesMeBestSister and my 10 yr. old niece made a cute little Candy Cane Cottage. They get a special prize for the best use of Captain Crunch cereal. I was so busy taking pictures that I didn’t notice the cute little gingerbreadman snowball fight until after everyone had gone home.

In third place, we have the team of MeMum and BigDaddy. We all cracked up when we saw their Santa’s Home for the Aged. BigDaddy is always good for a laugh! I thought he did a great job on the roof too.

My 15 yr. old niece and I cornered enough votes for second place. We made a little Peppermint Cottage. My niece had to carry the ball on our house, as I had to keep leaving her to take pictures and refill icing tubes.

And the first place winners this year were none other than the bride-and-groom-to-be, SweetiePie and TheFirstChild. They created a cute little wedding chapel, complete with attendants, stained glass windows and a steeple.

I didn’t get a great picture of the steeple, but you can catch a glimpse of it in this picture.

So, a fun end to a great year! Thanks to all of you for being a part of my 2007. I’m WAY behind on reading my comments/e-mails — hope to fix that in the new year. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s celebration. Be Happy AND Safe!!!

XOXO,
Anna