The first week of December I was over at my mom’s and she had a gift for me. A little tabletop Christmas tree. A real one! That can be planted. I smiled and thanked her, and told her that I wasn’t planning to get a tree this year. She said, “I know. That’s why I got you this one.” Mom’s know. Sometimes. A few days later I took out my Christmas decorations and put up a few things. My apartment still isn’t completely decorated, but my tree is trimmed, my stockings are hung, and my apartment has been sprinkled with snowflakes. During my week of half hearted decorating my apartment complex announced a decorating contest. Apparently that’s all I needed to get into the Christmas spirit. That Sunday while Mom and I were galavanting around town, shopping for gifts and knocking down a whole shelf of Christmas stockings (you had to be there) I told her about the contest. We started brainstorming ideas. First we were going to make my front door into a fireplace, take the inside out sort of thing. Then we thought maybe a big Christmas tree all decorated with presents underneath.
We were at a craft store and came across a little mailbox with a snowman on it. Most of my Christmas decorations are snowmen and snowflakes so this was perfect. How could I use this little mailbox to decorate my front door? Mom came up with the cutest idea. “Let’s turn your front door into a gingerbread house.” We spent way too much time in the craft store thinking of how to accomplish this. The photos you see here are the result of our efforts. My gingerbread house is complete with candy cane windows and trim, snow on the rooftop, a little mailbox filled with candy canes for the neighbors to enjoy, a jingle bell wreath, and my favorite touch: a snowy, gumdrop-lined walkway.
We had so much fun planning and decorating my door. The day I got it all set up Tim from the leasing office came by to say, “I wanted to see if Santa was home! Geez, I think we can end the contest now.” I guess all it takes is a little motherly urging, inspiration, and some healthy competition to get me in the Christmas spirit.
Gingerbread Hot Cocoa
Ingredients
Directions
On the way to school on Monday, Abby asked “Daddy, can Sarah put more candy canes in her mailbox?”
Just realized I forgot to tell you that. So, uh, get on that.
Awww! Maybe I need to get several seasonal mailboxes so there is always candy available at my front door!