Happy New Year!!!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year! Our family had a great Christmas....low-key and simple, as promised. We were so blessed to have our far-away family members join us for the Christmas season. Even David made it home for two weeks, which was so nice! It was great soaking up the family chats, traditions, and laughter. One tradition of ours is to host a gingerbread house decorating contest. Even though all of us kids are older, it still gets intense. My mom went all-out gathering candy and making loads of icing. {Last year some arguments broke out over an icing shortage. Needless to say, we had plenty this year ;) } There was candy, icing, cheerios, sprinkles, and graham crackers all over the floor by the end of the night. It was so much fun. Here are a few glimpses of the decorating chaos:

Rikki's gingerbread house. Do you notice the three little gingerbread people in front? ;)

Ryan's gingerbread house: the WINNER! It started out pitiful and falling apart; yet somehow Ryan redeemed his house. He even made a porch with a waving person. :)

Happy New Year! I pray 2011 is a blessed year for you all! :)