Friday night, we all decorated gingerbread houses (we've been doing it for over 10 years) and it finally started to feel like Christmas. It's hard to feel festive when the weather is 60 degrees and sunny. This year, since my parents are in an apartment until their house is finished, they didn't get a Christmas tree, so the gingerbread houses were the only decoration. 
We also picked up our dog, Coco, from the vet where she was boarded while we were in Charleston and Savannah. It was great to spend some time with her before we left. She's and old lady now, so all of the excitement of other dogs wore her out. She mostly slept and hung out on the sidelines on Friday and Saturday morning. 
We travelled back to Portland on Saturday from my parent's place in Florida and breathed a huge sigh when we walked in the door. Although we had a wonderful vacation with my family, it was nice to come home and sit in my chair, sleep in our bed, and eat at our table. We also came home to an arctic blast that has caused the temperatures here in Portland to linger in the mid 20s -- I was pretty much assured by numerous people that it never gets this cold in Portland, and snow is a rarity. Yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised to wake up to big puffy flakes. Finally, it feels like the holidays. 
We took a walk yesterday just before sunset to pick up some basic food items -- our milk went sour while we were gone, so I was forced to put ice cream in my coffee for breakfast Sunday morning. Our walk was cold and very, very icy. I was shocked that the streets hadn't been salted at all. This morning the roads look like a nightmare, all of the black that you see (that looks like melted snow) is really just a giant sheet of ice. It certainly is pretty, though. I'm glad I made a giant pot of chili to keep us warm for the next couple of days. I think the cold will linger for a little while.
5 comments:
Do each of you make your own gingerbread house or are they a collective effort? I like the one on the right that looks like it's made out of logs with the red and green roof.
Is it tradition to eat them too?
Well, my mom constructs the houses and we each decorate our own. The log cabin one that you like is my mom's. We don't eat them because they get kind of stale and hard, but you could if you wanted to.
It's more of a tradition to eat your weight in royal icing while constructing the houses.
Or at least that's what I did when I once joined the Brasells in gingerbread house-making...
-Anonymous (aka, LVD)
Yes, after pounds of royal icing, the last thing you want to think about is eating the gingerbread.
mmm... making gingerbread houses a la Brasell sounds like something I would be good at.
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