Last week we made a gingerbread house which Wren and Frost ate, literally, a few days post-construction. I am glad this is nothing like reality. I would be seriously bummed if a giant came and ate our bathroom shortly after I put on all the finish and trim. Since this is not likely to happen I was not too dismayed by the early-devouring. It was either that or the kids would nag, day after day, to be allowed to eat it and would surreptitiously pick at the candy until it looked warty and sorrowful. Now it is just plain gone.

Wren was upfront about his plan to eat the gingerbread house.

Today, we went downtown with Alex and Tara to see the gingerbread houses on display in the Sheraton lobby. These houses are not your average kitchen table affairs. They are concoctions by local architectural and construction firms. This year the theme was movies and characters from popular culture. We saw some lovely interpretations of the Grinch stealing Christmas, Charlie Brown and Sesame Street (among others).

Posing beneath the Christmas Tree

Inside the big gingerbread mountain.

Dr Seuss World

Elmo made of jelly beans

The line was very long but we made it to the displays and then felt ravenously hungry. Oddly, we ended up in the downtown mall (somewhere we never go) and had made to order salads, soup and coffee. Ah, a well deserved latte!

There has been a slight change of plans with the cousins. They are now coming up for Christmas lunch/dinner but not sleeping over Christmas eve. I hope traffic isn't too awful for the drive. We went down one year and it was very crowded. Still, we're excited to see them.