Friday, December 24, 2010

Gingerbread Village





I have a brilliant new marketing plan or at least a good idea for placement of products in major grocery stores. I feel as if gingerbread house and village kits should come with some sort of alcoholic beverage for the adult. It would need to have some a timer on it because goodness knows I had enough trouble assembling those things sober; the cocktail would have come in handy afterwards. I must hand it to the kids that not once did they say anything about how much better Daddy would have done it (although he would have done it much better, I suspect). I made the icing too thick and messed up the icing pouches that came with the kit. Then you actually have to assemble those little suckers! If the walls aren't quite straight then the roofs fall off. Needless to say my village would not pass inspection for quality of construction but once I smeared the icing on the roof of each little building the kids had so much fun! I learned years ago that what looks good to me and what looks good to them are two totally different things. Fun was had by all... Cullen, Carson, cousin Phillip, and Lila. If I had been in possession of a bottle of champagne I would have made mimosas for one. If you drink with four kids present that doesn't count as drinking alone, does it?

Pre-Christmas

I love that two days ago Cullen and Carson both cleared off a shelf for the Harry Potter Lego sets that they hope and wish with all of their hearts to receive for Christmas. I love this because:

1) They actually cleaned something up, which is in itself a cause for celebration
2) They live a life where they feel confident that they will get the basics of what they want
3) They both still believe in Santa. I think one is teetering on the edge of knowing the truth but he still WANTS to believe and both boys will always play the game for Lila.

We don't over-indulge them. My motto is that just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do something. We could buy them a four-wheeler for Christmas, for instance, or a new DS game every week but we don't. We could get Happy Meals every day but we don't. I don't want them to live a life where we can't keep up with their demands. These Lego sets are a fraction of what some of their friends will get but Cullen and Carson will be happy to get them. The sets are on backorder but I have inside information from a certain elf that Santa prepared far enough in advance where he doesn't need to worry about a shortage of Harry Potter Lego sets.