A Very Snowy Gingerbread Party

I wasn't sure the Gingerbread Party would happen this year.  We've had some unusually early winter weather. Friday evening conditions warranted a declaration of an emergency state.  I wasn't out. I was home making piles of icing and tiny houses, wondering if I'd have to deliver them during the next thaw.
Well, it turned out that most everyone made it.
Outside looked like a winter wonderland with ice coated trees, bushes and plants, with a snowy topping.

Some finish their house quickly.

Some go slower and end up with far more candy in their tummy than on their house.

Some come decked out for the festive occasion with the perfect hair adornment-crack up!

 Some wonder what in the world is the point in decorating at all when the house is perfectly edible.

One new Westerly Wind wondered what all the fuss was about.

 Aunt Tish is overseeing the Special Sugars she kindly contributes, much to the delight of the wee princesses, including her own, Missy Bree.

Oops, missed one decorator, who is of course using blue icing.

 Bree wanted to play with the Ann and Andy, then got distracted and left them with Grandpa Joe. Who had crept to  this corner, trying to stay out of the way of the littles.

You know, there aren't anymore of us than usual, it is just that they are getting so big. There is hardly a spot that doesn't have a kidlet on it.  It doesn't help that in addition to their winter clothes, they have on every piece of dress-up attire I have.

 

 Giddy-up has a tradition he wasn't willing to abandon for the sake of a party.  He likes me to help him look in a particular cabinet, the frig and the pantry to see what he can see.  He spied the mixer, which he calls a concrete mixer, and wanted to play.  I told him he could play, but on party day we wouldn't be getting out the flour, rice,etc. and he would just have to pretend.  So I cleared a spot and passed him off to Pappy.  As it goes with children, it soon attracted a crowd and he shared with his "Fwiends" very nicely.

Aunt SuZQ, Uncle Tim, and Aunt Tish are kind of neat-niks and I believe are a bit overwhelmed at the Gramerly craziness, but I think that they like bringing their own littles to join in the fray and always are such a great help with contributions and clean-up.  Probably the reasons are two fold. One, their littles have a great time and two, they get to go home.

I'm thankful to the Lord that everyone got there and got home safely.

I had time for a short nap before my first Polar Express adventure.