I've always been a huge advocate for traditions. In college, I did a semester project on traditions where I had to put together a class and then teach it, complete with feedback from the people who attended. It hardly even felt like a project because it is something I love so much! Creating traditions in connection with a holiday is a great way to help family bond together over shared experiences. It gives meaning and enhances our enjoyment of the holiday. I've teamed up with At Home (who has also gracious sponsored this post) to talk about Christmas traditions and #MyReason for incorporating them into our holiday.
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As I've considered what new traditions I want to incorporate into our family Christmas celebration, I decided that my kids were old enough to decorate their own gingerbread "person". Each kid got their own giant sized gingerbread person, 3 colors of frosting and some candy to decorate with. My son, who is turning 3 in March, needed a little help from dad, but my almost 5 year old daughter totally took control over her decorating and needed no help from me. The kids ate at least half the candy while the other half ended up on their gingerbread person.
My favorite thing my daughter said when I asked her about the yellow Nerds: "It's corn. They just got back from the pumpkin patch. The gingerbread pumpkin patch where they played in the corn pit." Haha! I love how creative kids are. Both kids were extremely proud of their creations and loved the whole activity. We'll definitely be doing this again next year!
My husband and I decided to take it to another level and decorate gingerbread houses. We put the kids to bed, set up our gingerbread house decorating stations and pulled my laptop over to the table where we turned on Pitch Perfect and laughed ourselves silly! We did cheat a little bit and put the frosting in these cool frosting decorators to make it easier to control (see fourth picture in series below).
It was so fun to relax and do something together. Although, maybe relax isn't the best word to use. Our decorating turned into a competition, complete with smack talk. We spent the full hour and 52 minutes and then some working on our houses and evaluating before adding more.
And this is where you come in! We want to know which gingerbread house YOU like better. The prize for the winner is yet to be determined, but it's probably something along the lines of not having to do the dishes for a week and nightly shoulder rubs. I told my husband I was totally going to win but he's giving me a run for my money!
The top picture is Contestant A and the bottom picture is Contestant B. You can vote for your favorite and I'll announce who won between my husband and I next week on Facebook. (Come on friends! I'm counting on you to help me win this! I really want to hand over dish duty for a week! *me sending positive brain waves*)
In addition to voting for your favorite gingerbread house, you can also enter a giveaway below for $100 gift card to At Home! Each entry is worth 1 point. The giveaway ends Tuesday, December 13 at midnight CST.
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Lastly, I want to invite you to check out the amazing posts of these 8 other bloggers who are also sharing about their own Christmas traditions. You are guaranteed to find tons of great inspiration and maybe even want to incorporate a new tradition or two this holiday season!
You and your husband did not make it easy to pick a favorite. They are both adorable and I kept going back and forth, back and forth, before finally making a decision. Man, you made it difficult. What a great tradition!
ReplyDeleteWe had a lot of fun! My husband can be pretty artistic when he puts his mind to it.
DeleteWow! They both turned out great. I picked A because I liked the icing dripping down, but they are both amazing. What a fun tradition! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy! We had a lot of fun making them together.
DeleteMy god this isn't an easy choice! I really liked both but decided to go for B because of the side windows and the door knob ^^
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to read the post and vote! :)
DeleteThis looks like a blast! Ours always ends up being super messy!
ReplyDeleteI definitely liked using the kit as opposed to trying to buy/make everything myself. Our kids made enough of a mess for both of us! ;)
DeleteThis looks SO much fun! And it came out so good! When I have kids I totally want to start this tradition too!
ReplyDeleteRachel | The Confused Millennial
It's a pretty common tradition, but I can totally understand why because it's so much fun! I love the added element of competition.
DeleteThese gingerbread houses look great! I haven't had one at home for years! It's a bit difficult with two cats I guess!
ReplyDeleteThanks Serena! I can imagine that cats would make it a little harder to have something like this around because you'd never be able to keep it out of their reach!
DeleteThe gingerbread houses and men are so cute! I love the friendly competition.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily! It's been fun for us.
DeleteI love this tradition! My hubby and I would definitely get competitive too! Hope you win! :o)
ReplyDeleteThanks Falon, me too!
DeleteI voted for A, the icicles won me over.
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks for taking the time to vote!
DeleteWow, I voted, but I felt like I wanted to vote twice. Both are terrific! I'm sad to say that if my husband and I had a contest like that it wouldn't be close and he'd win.
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks Beth! My husband is pretty talented. :)
DeleteThose gingerbread boys are really something and look bigger than the kids!!! We saw them and my kids picked up one but we did not get it. You guys are some serious gingerbread house decorators and made the vote difficult. What a fun tradition!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, having the oversized gingerbread people was a lot of fun for the kids and made it easier for them to decorate. I'm glad my husband and I waited until the kids went down before starting on our houses so we could spend some time together. Thanks for voting!
DeleteYou all are very impressive gingerbread house decorators! I'm thinking I'm better suited to the kid's activity of gingerbread men instead :) haha. Looks like a fun night!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lora! We all had a ton of fun and I'm excited to do it again next year.
DeleteThis looks like so much fun! And what a great way to get the kids involved in all the holiday festivities.
ReplyDeleteShannon
Clothes & Quotes
The kids loved it! Although they ate probably at least as much candy and frosting as what ended up on their gingerbread people...haha!
Deletei love the gingerbread houses. I've actually never made one do you believe it?! fun little date night!
ReplyDeleteThanks Colette! It was a great date night. And to be honest, I don't remember the last time I made a gingerbread house, if ever, so I totally believe you!
DeleteThis looks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteIt was as hard to pick a favorite, but I went with A. I liked the icing dropping down. :)
Have a fabulous week!
XO, Vanessa
It was a ton of fun Vanessa! Thanks for voting. :)
DeleteThis is amazing and I love the competitive spirit. Plus Pitch Perfect - sounds like an awesome night to me!
ReplyDeleteWatching a comedy was definitely the way to go because it kept things lighthearted.
DeleteYou guys are some serious gingerbread house decorators :) Love how happy the kiddos look making their own gingerbread men!
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks Sarah! The kids LOVED decorating their own gingerbread men, especially by themselves.
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