Not my gumdrop buttons!

Lucy has asked all Christmas season long to make a gingerbread house, but I honestly didn't want to fork over the $13 for the kit, especially since we had such a crazy schedule over the Christmas season and just wasn't sure when we would all be able to sit down and put one together.  However, at my weekly (or one of my weekly anyway!) wal-mart runs yesterday, I noticed these nice sets had gone WAY down in price, and when I saw that they were clearing them out for only $1.50, I knew that now was a great timw to give Lucy one of her Christmas wishes.  Plus, the Chistmas season isn't technically over yet since we are currently in the true 12 days of Christmas leading up to epiphony on January 6th.  So if you're wondering why we still have our tree up, know that we actually have good reason!  (Or at least a good excuse since we've honestly just not been home long enough to get it all down just yet!)

So, here is our family fun night creation of the Toller Quatro's Gingerbread House:) 

I have to say, DH always amazes me with his creativity of things.  He pretty much oversaw the project, and even came up with the idea of adding the dripping frosting off the roof to create "icicles."

 Gabriel didn't do a lot of decorating, but he certainly enjoyed watching and partaking in the "candy testing" department of the project.

 I have a feeling he will be much more hands on with next year's gingerbread house (which I hope to find again on clearance after the 25th:)

Christmas break is obviously coming to a close, but oddly enough it's been in these past few days after the actual holidays that our family has really been able to spend some good quality time with one another, past all of the hustle and bustle of the season.  It's been so very nice to be home for a few days and able to have family movie and activity nights and not have to worry about being up super early the next morning for a full day.  I'm treasuring these few days where we have been able to slow down and enjoy just being a family, yet still very much staying within the holiday season and what it's all about.  As we look towards the end of the 12 days of Christmas, we focus on the time that the wise men would receive news of where their newborn King was--epiphany symbolizes when they would visit their newborn King.  The word itself actually means “manifestation of God."  So during this time where our schedules have momentarily lightened up, I pray we will be seeking out how to find our King in the midst of this life--where would He have us to follow Him in this new year, to seek Him, and to worship Him afresh and anew.  And as a family in this unique day and age, we have the opportunity to do that in different ways--over discussion times after a Christmas movie (thank you for the veggie tales movie, Mema Joan!) or at the dinner table as we laugh together and talk about things while decorating a gingerbread house.  Our daily lives can truly be a segue into deeper conversations about our Jesus, and I pray our family will take advantage of those as we seek out our King in this New Year!