Monday, December 26, 2016

Gingerbread House Throwdown - The RETURN!

After last year's fiasco when we could not find a premade gingerbread house anywhere in the vicinity of Sam's place in North Carolina and therefore weren't able to do our annual decorating throwdown competition, all was right with the world and we were able to do it this year.  Except that Sam wasn't able to come out here for Christmas, being as he'd used up the last of his vacation for his visit here for Thanksgiving and our subsequent trip to Orlando, so that made for a different day.  This was the first Christmas since he was born that we haven't spent it together...as a parent of grown children, you know that is always a possibility, but it's still weird when that day actually arrives.

We made the best of it.  Of course Allie still came - it helps to live within driving distance, that's for sure!  We weren't planning on doing gifts because the Orlando trip was our gift, but we did have fun with stocking stuffers, and I filled a stocking for Sam and mailed it to him last week.  We FaceTimed in the morning as we all opened our stockings, which was entertaining, and we've been rewatching the Harry Potter movies and remembering our recent trip.

But I know you are here for the Gingerbread House Decorating Throwdown pictures, not really a Christmas day recap, so here they are:

The winner - DANG IT:
Team Hug It Out, Bitch created the Krustyland ride, complete with Marge Simpson (check out her purple gumdrop hair), Bart, and Lisa.
Yeah, yeah...someone was pretty pleased with himself when he revealed the house.
This was our view - we had no idea what he was making.  Jeff had consulted with Sam beforehand, but wasn't able to FaceTime with him during the throwdown as Sam was spending Christmas day with friends.

Allie and I thought we had a winner this year.  Our theme was Hansel and Gretel:
So pretty, right?  Team Awesome for the win...until we saw Krustyland.  We just couldn't beat that one.
In the tradition of Hansel and Gretel, we made our house appealing to children, with all kinds of candy coverings...but wait:
FREE CANDY???  That sounds enticing!  

Oh no!!!  There's a witch who is in the process of eating Gretel, while Hansel has just been boiled in a cauldron and is in line to be eaten next!  The sweet gingerbread house has turned into a house of horror!

Yes, my child has a warped sense of humor.  I guess I do as well since I went along with it.  But Krustyland won out:
The marshmallow teeth on Krusty's mouth, along with his hair, just killed us.
We awarded ourselves extra points for decorating all sides (and the roof) of our house, but we still lost.

It was fun to do this again, and while I'm sad that Sam wasn't here to participate in person, I have a feeling that with his help, Krustyland would have been even more spectacular and I'm not sure Allie and I could have stood the beatdown.  But this was a fun way to spend time together on Christmas day, and I'm glad we got to continue our tradition.

18 comments:

  1. That looks like so much fun! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  2. What a fun tradition. Jeff is too creative for his own good..haha.

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  3. so much fun!! Looked reading about it.

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  4. How fun! We used to make a gingerbread house every year with the boys. I tried to resurrect the tradition last year but not so much...hopefully I can bring it back when there are little ones around...

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  5. Well this post made me LOL. If I had been the judge, Hansel and Gretel would have won for sure! All the details. And you know, extra points for neatness and unexpected horror elements :)

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  6. I have to go with Debby here, Hansel and Gretel for the win! What other gingerbread house has a boiling cauldron?

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    1. ...with three colors of sprinkles under the cauldron to make the fire!

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  7. This is such a fun tradition! I do like Crusty but I think the bloody signatures win it for me. In the first picture I thought oh how sweet it looks perfect...and gory. Merry Christmas!

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    1. Thanks - and Allie will appreciate how you noticed the bloody signature...that was her idea. :)

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  8. OK, so I'm here to read and comment - wondering why there are so many comments already and why dates are yesterday. And I've just realized today is Tuesday lol!

    I say Hansel and Gretel wins - you should get many extra points for being so meticulous. Krusty is pretty imaginative though. Plus it's just great that you guys continue this tradition.

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    1. I had a "what day is this??" conversation with Diane as we were running this morning, LOL. Holidays, time off...it's all good, but it sure can mess up your brain.

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  9. I was going to say how pretty your and Allie's gingerbread house was until I saw how dark it was LOL! That's awesome! I think this is such a cool tradition!

    It's probably been close to 10 years since I've been with my parents on Christmas Day. It's hard for us kids too! I usually see them for Thanksgiving and sometime *around* Christmas, but I definitely miss my own family traditions on Christmas.

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  10. I love this post every year - sorry Sam couldn't be there with you, but love that you had a great time. For the record, I like yours better!

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  11. That is an AWESOME tradition! I am totally dying at "free candy." Ha!

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  12. I do like the Krusty house but I think you and Allie were robbed. That sinister plot twist was just fantastic!

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  13. Hahahaha. Now I'm just sitting here at work grinning at the throwdown pictures!!!! I love that Jeff hid his work! Hahaha

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  14. This is always one of my favourite posts of the year. I actually like yours and Allie's more.

    Sorry Sam wasn't there but glad to hear he still was a part of your Christmas.

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