Parting with our Winter Candyland

Ahhh! I finally am sitting down, with child wrapped in my lap, and am typing my first blog. This is going to be my therapy to treat my "not wanting to go to bed syndrome". Actually, it probably won't "treat" it as much as helping me cope with my night time boredom, I only can read so much. I need to stay quiet because the entire house is sleeping and I don't enjoy starting art projects in the evening because they usually take me later into the night than I want. I take back 'the entire house", our Kola the Cow Cat comes alive wanting to play fetch and sliding all around our home making LOTS of noise, on purpose I am sure.

As to our Winter Candyland, these gingerbread houses were made in December by my son Aidan Rue. A local coffee shop, local bakery, and local novelty candy store (www.therocketypsi.com) donated space, gingerbread, and candy to make these wonders. We paid twenty dollars and received rectangle gingerbread pieces and icing. The table was lined with more candy than I had ever seen: foot long swirled taffy, gumballs in every size, marshmallow trees, mints, gum drops, gummy bears, and an array of suck candies. My child made his much like his personality - organized chaos! A gentlemen behind us had been eyeing Aidan's creation the entire hour and a half and exicitedly commented on the brilliance behind his design. From my mommy perspective, I just loved that he sat for 1.5 hours concentrating having a ball covering every possible section of the house. The other gingerbread to the left was made out of graham crackers at his co-op preschool, very fun and easy, even for our daughter who is 2.5. I have been keeping these around the house for months now just trying to figure out how to save them as my husband keeps nagging me to toss them. I am a pack rat!! I admit it in every sense on the word! I thought about spraying it with polyurethane to keep it and bring it out every year but one day I just did it, I threw them away. I felt sad, but I do have this beautiful photo as a reminder and I get to see them make a new one every year. I guess that is the most important part, being around and experiencing the gingerbread house being made.