CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES PART 2: SANTA'S CHRISTMAS LETTER

Every year growing up we wrote a letter to Santa Claus and left it with a plate of cookies and carrots.  This is the first year we've done this as a family and here are some pictures from it.  The boys (Pach and Pickle) were really excited.  Bacon was just a loose canon.

The letter. Pach was so specific I had to help broaden his desires.
The two little purple blobs to the left of his name are "Miguel" and "Shu".
The 2 cars he specifically asked Santa for, from CARS 2.

All ready for Santa and the reindeer.

A picture of the VERY happy boys.

An attempt at more normal looking happy boys.

First attempt with all the boys.

The 2nd and last attempt of all 3 boys. Bacon knocked Pach over.
 Pickle wanted a turn holding Bacon but we nixed that.
Someone (Pickle) might have gotten hurt.

BLAST FROM THE PAST! GINGERBREAD HOUSES

Ok, so the post I wrote right before this was this years Gingerbread House.  We do them every year (or most) and thought I would let you all see the past ones we've done.  Mine are the crappy, ugly ones and Tim's are the amazing ones. 

2006: The first year.  I forgot to make angled pieces so I could have an angled roof.  As a result, I have a flat roof, so common in Arizona.

Tim's creation: front view complete with a pebble path,
fish pond and smoking chimney.

Top view of Tim's creation. The little green thing on the
bottom left of the picture is an army man crawling.

The say a picture is worth a thousand words.

2007:

Not sure what happened to more picutres, but this is
two story with a porch roof in red.  Overacheiver.

This is mine and the only one I really like. It was premade but I bought
all the candies. I think it turned out well.  I really like the roof!

 2009:

Front view of Tim's creation. Drive way, snow and
Christmas tree.  Snow on the roof too.

An off-center view.

The back complete with a balcony and small patio. He even put in a garden area.
That's the brown section on the bottom left of the picture.

Side view.  Such the overacheiver.

My pathetic little house. There are a couple of
snowmen and even Christmas lights this time.

2010:

This is mine. I think it turned out ok. We didn't have a lot of time and
hadn't planned much, so it was a little plain.

Tim's fun one. I used the same pattern to make both ours
but his is just more spectacular.

POLL QUESTION:

Looking back at my sad attempts at Gingerbread houses, would you ever guess I am the daughter of an amazing artist?  Feel free to leave your answer in the comment section.  My comment would be something like this: "Heck NO!! He has more artistry in his pinkly nail that I have in my entire body!! The mad skills definately skipped me!" Don't be shy.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES!!! Part 1: Gingerbread Houses

Every year we do Gingerbread Houses.  It's been a fun tradition of ours.  We have made them with friends and with family.  This year we were a little slow and lazy.  Normally we plan out, make the dough from scratch, design our house and then cut it out and bake.  Tim goes all out on his while mine are a little sad looking next to his. Oh well.  This year we just couldn't seem to get in gear, so I finally just bought a pre-cut one that came with all the candies and frosting.  Tim took charge of Bacon while I put everything together and decorated with Pach and Pickle.  They had a lot of fun and the house doesn't look to bad either.  We even had enough candy to make it look good! I wasn't sure since they kept eating it as we went.

Tim said, "You have a mad face!" I replied, "I was just concentrating!"
I think my mouth looks like my Grandma's Meyer's in this picture. 
Her little disapproval frown (or mock disapproval). 

Pach decorating his side of the roof. He kept complaining he needed
 more candies but he kept eating them!

Not sure what Pach's doing but Pickle decorating his side of the house.

Not sure what Pickle is doing but Pach is decorating his side of the house.

Pickle's side of the house but Pach's side of the roof.

The front, which we all decorated. They wanted a fancy pink door like
the picture on the box. I didn't have any fondant and didn't want to do
that much work anyway. Pach did the candy "lights" on the left side
and Pickle did the lights on the right side.

Pickle's side of the roof and Pach's side of the house.

The back of the house which we all did.
Pach did put the candy "lights" on the left side
 and Pickle did the ones on the right side.

A view of the roof. I think it looks pretty good.