Gingerbread House of Epic Proportions

This Christmas my sister Tori and I decided while admiring all the gingerbread houses on display in Midway for a children's benefit, that we were going to make an epic gingerbread house this Christmas. We really wanted to make one of those Victorian style gingerbread houses that just leave people in awe. So we started with some pictures online and just started designing, and eventually it took shape. Though we decided that next year we will definitely plan ahead. 

I love this picture because it shows everyone in the family working on the gingerbread house. You can't see Eric because he's taking the picture, you only see my arm, and Aleksa is hidden, but it was a true family effort. I think we may have started a family tradition. In the past our gingerbread house attempts consisted of    of small cardboard milk cartons covered in 5 graham crackers, and eating more candy than was actually used for the house, I think we definitely took our gingerbread house making to a whole new level.

You can see the many, different sides of our gingerbread house, and you can see the lack of conformity. The problem was that even though my mom bought hoards of candy, we didn't have enough of any one thing, so each side ended having it's own theme. We think that next year (at Thanksgiving because my parents have Thanksgiving next year) we will make a village of houses that are about a third of this size and come prepared with our house design and candy decoration plan. It was a huge task to build it from cardboard, cover it in graham crackers, and decorate it. The whole project took us 2 days.

A Cornucopia of Thanksgiving

One of my worries about getting married and becoming our own separate family unit was how to appease both families as we split up the holidays. Since Eric was gone all last year in Iraq, naturally his family wanted him home for Christmas, but since this is Heather & Cam's year for Christmas with my family, Eric and I agreed that it would be best to be on the same rotation. So that meant that Eric's family got us for Thanksgiving.

It was my first break from work since the Honeymoon, and it was MUCH needed. I always looked forward to the weekend and holidays before we got married, but not nearly as much as I do now! I just want to spend all my time with Eric, so I count the hours everyday until I get to see Eric again. 

I got work off Thursday and Friday, so we headed to Nampa, Idaho on Wednesday afternoon. We left early so I could get my military spouse ID card in Pocatello. But just our luck, their machine had broken so they left early. I was so mad that I left work early and not get my ID card. Oh well, at least Pocatello was on our way and we got a head start. We got such a good head start that we were hopeful of getting to Nampa in good time. But alas we had quite the frustrating hour, when we got stuck in stop and go traffic a 1/2 hour out of Boise, all because of a lane change... At long last, we made it Nampa.

That evening, we just chatted and hung out with the fam, Grandma Andrus, Tiffany, and Kim and her kids who were also there. 

The next day we slept in :) and got ready for a day of delicious food! Sadly, we didn't think to take any pictures of Thanksgiving day! The food was awesome, and later that night more of Eric's aunts, uncles cousins, and Grandma Rose came over for pie. 

The next day, Black Friday, Eric and slept in and then decided to hit the stores. Surprisingly there was a lot left, and it wasn't that crazy. But then, we didn't really want anything that was a high profile item... thank goodness! We spent a few hours shopping and finally found a down duvet at a good price. The duvet cover I wanted was online, but we wanted to get a good price on the duvet. (I'll post pictures when we the get the duvet cover and the rest of the bedroom looking good.)

We finally made it out of the stores in time to go shooting with Eric's dad, Ben, Andrew, one of Eric's uncles and some cousins. Though we were quickly running out of daylight, we had fun, and Eric and I both got to wear our capotes!

Andrew, fired off his rounds pretty quickly! We were all pretty surprised because he's only 14. Though I suppose no one should be that surprised, there is a reason everyone calls Andrew, Little Eric. But for myself, I can only shoot 3 or 4 shots before I'm done, though I'm getting better at not freaking out when the gun kicks. 

Later that night we had been told that if we wanted we could have the air mattress over the futon. Eric and I jumped at the chance, but we had to take it up with Annie, who had slept on it the night before. Annie said she would wrestle Eric for it, well we all know who won ;) Here's proof.

On Saturday we went bowling. Surprisingly, it was our first time bowling together, though we definitely know who is the bowler in our family, NOT me! Eric scored above 100 in both games, and nearly doubled my score! Oh well, I never aspired to be a good bowler. 

Later that night we decorated the gingerbread house, always one of my favorite activities, though tiring after awhile. (Though I'll have to get more endurance for it because Tori and I are endeavoring to decorate an intense victorianish gingerbread house this Christmas.) It was really fun because it was a real gingerbread house, which I've never had. 

Eric's dad saved the turkey wish bone for us to pull on our "first" Thanksgiving together. We pulled hard, and the top broke off and spun into the air, so no one got their wish, though Eric aptly replied, "No, this means we both get our wishes." How appropriate :)

It was a great Thanksgiving, it's fun getting to know my "new" family members, I know have 4 sisters and 6 brothers, whereas before I had 2 sisters and 1 brother (in-law).