The famous gingerbread houses!  Oh how I LOVE this time of year!

Jason and I have been making gingerbread houses together every year since the beginning of our relationship (almost 4 years now) and it has turned into quite a little tradition for us.  Typically we make houses with Jason’s family, however this year we ended up doing it with my siblings and their families.  I always love having my family over because of the sheer entertainment and chaos that it provides!  I often times find myself stepping back from whatever activity that is going on, just so I can listen to the sheer volume of noise that is roaring through our house.  It gets SO LOUD that I find myself sitting and laughing over the amount of noise in the house.  I find it hilarious!

When everyone comes over it is seven adults and eight kids… and all in our cute little house.  We basically are shoulder-to-shoulder and not many of us have quite voices.  But that is what I love about it; and that’s how I think it should be around the holidays.  It sure does create lots of fun memories… and I am a big fan of that!

Michael and Mishell teamed up and built a sweet mansion of gingerbread amazingness!

However to much of their disappointment the roof caved in due to the amount of frosting and sheer weight of the candy placed upon its frail fame.  ONE DOWN!

Shane and Robbie teamed up and made a “hut” looking house which also did not survive!

TWO DOWN!

Lauren and Kristen built there own houses!

Although they look strong, Kristen’s was also falling apart not because she didn’t do a good job building it, but because all her candy was missing!  Haha!  I love that girl!

THREE DOWN!

Kaylynn teamed up with her mom and build such a cute little house, however it also did not survive!

FOUR DOWN!

Nicole was so proud of her house, however by walking around hers fell to pieces!  FIVE DOWN!

Jason built the “Twin Towers” in memory of us dating in New York, however those came crashing down by the hand of Nicole!  SIX DOWN!

I built of flat roofed house thinking I would be safe, however the sides of my house clasped in, thus my whole house fell apart!  SEVEN DOWN!

Donovan’s house didn’t even survive being built!  Ha!  You can see in front of him his house is in shambles!  EIGHT DOWN!

Jeffery did SO GOOD and his house lasted quite awhile, that is until he put his roof on and it was ALL down hill from there!  NINE DOWN!

Lauren and Shannon!  Their house was the ONLY one standing at the end of the night!  This house was perfect!  (kind of like the two of them… we love ’em.)

GOOD JOBS GUYS!  You redeemed the whole activity and made us so proud!

Although the gingerbread building was fun and we all consumed an insane amount of candy, popcorn, and cinnamon rolls the best part of the night was the Christmas Chimes.  A few years ago we received them as a gift and have LOVED getting them out to make our own Christmas music.  I think the reason why we love it so much is because the kids have so much fun, the parents all participate, and it really brings us together.  After the chimes we read a Christmas story and bear truth of our Savior, his birth, and the love he has for all of us.  Although our activities change each year, the message of our night does not.  It really is special time and it’s one I look forward to each year.

Hurray for new traditions!  Here’s a cute video of everyone in action with their chimes!

<<insert chime video>>