a very Claremont Christmas

Has everyone recovered from the holiday craziness and gluttony? Last weekend was such a lovely long weekend spent with family; Christmas was delightful, as always. We didn't win the Gingerbread House Decorating Competition this year (I demand a recount!) but I think our house still came out great. See?

This year, we bought pre-made gingerbread houses from the grocery store, and we all shared candy and icing... except, there was one twist that Kim added this year. Each couple could bring two additional "wild card" items that only they could use. The only rule was that they had to be edible. Our items were Juicy Fruit gum (which we used as siding), and we planned ahead and baked our own gingerbread to add dormer windows and a chimney! Things did turn out slightly wonky and the windows were waaaaay out of proportion with the rest of the house, but hey — we tried. And our house smells really good whenever you walk by it :-)

We ran out of black nibs for our roof... to cover the empty area I suggested we use the blue icing and call it a tarp — our gingerbread contractors pulled out of the job before it was finished ;-)

We had a blast opening gifts and just spending time hanging out. Nick and my brother bonded over potato peeling...

And we later put on our holiday finest to get a little family portrait by the tree.

I have off again today after a few days of work and we will be enjoying another long weekend to celebrate the new year. Nick and I will be heading out for our customary New Year's Eve dinner at our favorite fancy Chinese restaurant tonight, followed by the ball drop in our town and some midnight smoochin'.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve, whether it be festive and fancy or low-key and lovely. Happy New Year to you!

PS- my "Merry Christmas" post was actually my 200th post on Claremont Road! I'm movin' up in the world... ;-)