Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Gingerbread Joy






I have a lot to share today! Obviously these are pics of our gingerbread construction session. All I can say is "Hail the Costco buyers" for bringing in these $9.99 kits. We had a great time putting this together and there wasn't even any icing to mix, just a bag to submerge in warm water for a short period of time. Everyone worked cooperatively and we are quite pleased with the results, it even smells like gingerbread in here! Georgia did have some trouble during the assembly. "The candies keep falling in my mouth, Mommy!" Darn gravity. Never works the way we want it to.


New topic: Olivia's piano recital. Olivia played on Sunday afternoon at her Christmas recital. She chose to play "Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful." Okay, I know this is going to sound like your typical mother bragging session but can I just say that this child oozes talent? She is this cool little cucumber who walks on the stage and plays like she has been doing this her whole life. This is her second year of lessons and I am so delighted with what she has accomplished. She finished her Suzuki Book One at the end of November so will be moving on to new things after Christmas. The recital was piano and violin. Here's the thing: Sophie wants to play the violin. The violin is a pain-inducing instrument if the recital we listened to is an accurate measure of what we can expect. Gary and I both have well-trained musical ears and we were cringing at some of the pitch issues. Sophie seems to have excellent pitch, based on her singing voice, but I'm not sure if we're up to this or not. We'll have to wait and see on that one.



Packages are mailed, including a Neighbourhood Round Robin cross stitch piece that is winging its way to Pam (if you're reading this, Pam, it was sent express post on Monday night). Tonight is my last night of music lessons before the break. I have some more baking to do and wrapping has yet to begin but I feel a sense of peace about this whole season. The Sunday School class I was teaching ended on Sunday and it was just excellent prep leading into Christmas in understanding why Jesus came and the beauty of God's plan of redemption woven through Scripture. Good stuff! No, perfect stuff!

I'll have a baby card to share tomorrow for some friends of ours in Ontario. You start to feel a bit old when your friend's children start having babies...

9 comments:

Miriam Pauline said...

Well done Olivia! That is awesome.

Your gingerbread house is beautiful. I haven't had the courage to try a house. We decorated men and Christmas trees today--pics to come later.

Sounds like you are all set for Christmas.

Meari said...

That GB house looks like a lot of fun! It turned out really nice.

Pam @ Heart2Heart said...

Your house looks fantastic! Kerstin and I tried one the year before last and lets just say it would have never passed code! LOL. I didn't see them at our Costco this year, I think we failed at ours because of the icing, I didn't do it right so that warm up kind sounds much better. I'll be on the lookout for the NRR and let you know when it arrives, I can't wait to see it again. How wonderful for Oliva, I know you must have been so proud, you have such wonderful children Renee.Do some baking for me would you? I can't quite seem to get in the mood yet to do it LOL

_ said...

How fun with the gingerbread house. I bought one yesterday that I plan to do with the kids on Christmas Eve. I might go get another one as the one I got is pretty small and I can see chaos ensuing with everyone crowded around it. LOL about the candies that kept falling in Georgia's mouth.

Way to go Olivia! The kids piano teacher is giving extra credit to his students if they do a recital over the holidays so we are doing one with friends at our house on Friday and then one at my SIL house on Christmas. I really enjoy listening to the kids play and I'll miss that when I go back to work.

I'm glad I kept reading about your baby card because I thought there for a minute I had missed something about you. ;-)

Sara Laughs said...

That candy gravity thing always gets me too.

We usually make a gingerbread house but with Steve gone, we haven't done it yet this year. Hopefully we'll get some time tomorrow.

Elaine said...

Sounds like you are a great and creative Mom! Your kids are so cute too.

Ara said...

Very Fun Gingerbread house! That's neat that all you need to do is submerge the bag in hot water, alot better than having to mix! I bet Olivia was fantasic at her recital!

Margaret said...

It's so great! I have a craft foam gingerbread house that my daughter and I will make tonight. Not as messy. LOL

Sara Laughs said...

Congrats to Olivia!