Happy New Year!
I find it funny that people spend more than a month getting ready for Christmas and then boom! it's over. No wonder people feel let down! Although there is a wonderful clearing out feeling about the New Year as well; but I will postpone that for another few days, even as things get a bit droopy.
Today is, as you know, the tenth day of Christmas. We keep Christmas for as long as we can stand it 🙂 There are the twelve days, of course, culminating in Little Christmas, or Epiphany, on the 6th.
Or, as kids gradually leave to go back to their respective homes, jobs, and schools, on whichever day we can squeeze it in, probably tomorrow. And it lasts until the Baptism of the Lord, January 11th this year. That's a long time to ponder the birth of our Savior. One day just isn't enough!
This year we kept up a few traditions, notably making a gingerbread creation on a few days after Christmas day and having it ready for display on New Year's Eve at our big party.
Usually I dread this activity, because the kids are incredibly intense and creative and it becomes an all-out, see-how-much-of-the-kitchen-and-environs-we-can-coat-with-sugar event. If one's kitchen is already hardly presentable, it can be overwhelming.
Here's a picture from a couple of years ago of the Victorian train station, being admired by young'uns but having been prepared by the most serious of older folk:
Do not attempt this with little children. This project must only be undertaken with the assistance of several teenage or older girls, none of whom has permission to go anywhere while the construction is underway. Moms just stand back, hoping to reclaim the surfaces long enough to feed people something other than licorice and gum drops.
This year I encouraged it, just to enjoy the goodness of the background that we have been blessed with this year. It was still overwhelming. We actually rearranged furniture to get the job done.
The theme was Venice. The challenge was to get it all on one board.
I realize that in a picture this is sort of a kaleidoscopic mishmash of candy rioting with gingerbread, but it's hard to do it justice photographically. Or else it really does look like this.
Note the gondola (courtesy of Bridget) and the bridge.
And another gondola beyond…
Just like the real thing, no?
This is not St. Mark's. It's an ecclesiastical monument to frustration in gingerbread. But it's done!
The pine needles are dropping like…pine needles, but we are keeping Christmas in our hearts!
And, if you would like to see some fabulous news about one of the daughters, go here!
Jen says
Gareth asked if we could do a gingerbread house this year and I just laughed! One day.
Meredith@MerchantShi says
Beautiful images! Glad to find your blog.
Decadent Housewife says
"St.Marks" looks pretty good to me!
Lawler Family Stalke says
I've been waiting anxiously for these photos! I heard all about the construction- it looks lovely! It's an interesting tradition to do a whole theme- maybe next year!
April says
Oh my goodness. Lady, I'm exhausted looking at that gingerbread display. Just makes some cookies and stack them to the ceiling next year.Thanks for posting another photo of your lovely Advent wreath, what a great idea.Also, you'll be happy to know that I wore a crown to children's church on Sunday and we celebrated Epiphany in kingly fashion.
Mrs. Pickles says
Wow, you people are serious gingerbread architects. My themes tend more towards "pray the icing actually holds long enough for the photo"!
Lisa says
I jumped over here from your “beginning of wonder” post, which rang so true to me. We’ve worked to instill the 12 day celebration in our family…having family at a distance which means more than one time with grandparents helps. We’ve tried gifts on every day but I think the true meaning gets lost then with a preschooler’s obsession with presents. How else do you make Christmas-tide special? I’m always open to ideas as we establish our family traditions.
Leila says
Lisa, I think the key is to think about all the things you do during what you might think of as “Christmas Vacation.” Visiting with friends? A trip into the city to visit the museum? A New Year’s Eve celebration? Each one of those things can be a “day of Christmas” treat!
Some “days” can be very simple, like one family present for all — an addition to a set, like a little PLaymobil add-on, or a train set bridge. I used to get a box of ribbon candy, and it’s just too much to open it on Christmas Day. With the stocking candy and all the rest, no one is that interested. But on say, the fourth day of Christmas, it’s a real fun thing to do! Yes, just opening a box of candy — one day of Christmas.
Seeing the Nutcracker performed…
Having a wassail party…
A sleepover with cousins…
Movie night for a favorite Christmas movie, complete with the kids making tickets and setting up chairs…
Going out for a family dinner to “a restaurant with napkins and water glasses”! Since big families usually don’t really all go out for dinner in a restaurant!
If you make a gingerbread house, there can be a day when you smash it and let them eat big hunks of it, a la Hansel and Gretel — closure for the gingerbread house, which is a good thing. When else would you get rid of it??
Going skating…
Does a relative send a box of presents, but it sort of gets lost in the shuffle on Christmas day? How about opening it as one of the other days…
Family bowling night…
Those are my ideas! Not really present-oriented for the most part!