One tradition the Yeager family always had while we grew up was to make a gingerbread house and decorate it. Back in the day, my mom would make the gingerbread dough from scratch, roll it out, cut the pattern, cook it, then put it together with royal icing, then we would decorate it with all the different kind of candy imaginable. She would even place toys inside the house for when we tore it apart on Christmas day, everyone would get a prize.

Now days, they create kits with everything in it. This is great for the not so Betty Crocker type. I do have to admit, I miss the raw gingerbread dough that was left over in my parents fridge. It was great to eat on the go.

This was the second year the kids (or grandchildren, Morgan, Emma and Logan), would decorate it. Each child has their own side to decorate. Morgan and Emma get a side, Logan (being his first year), got the back and the front was left for Dean. Mo, Em, and Lo did a great job. They shared sides, and took turns. There was no fighting and they had a lot of fun. The best part was when Logan had enough of the decorating and decided to pull the candy off the house, take a bite, then put it back on the house. It was hilarious. I don’t think he realized that anyone was paying attention to him. Morgan, Logan and Emma had a great time decorating together and I know it will be a tradition they will enjoy for years to come! Maybe next year we can go back to the homemade house….HINT MOTHER!

This past weekend, Emma had her first dance recital. Her class of 9 performed 2 ballet dances. The first was to “Up on the Housetop”, the second was to “We Wish you a Merry Christmas”. I really didn’t have high expectations for the dance. She had done pretty good during practice, but I wasn’t sure how she would do when alot of people would be watching her. I didn’t even think she would put the full costume on. Emma surprised me so much, she put the full costume on; outfit, gloves, and hat, and did both dances. She even had a little fall at the end, but so did a lot of other girls, so that was okay.
Watching her dance at the recital, made me really realize that dance is really Emma’s thing. It may change in a 6 months, a year or 5 years, but for now, I really see her dancing for awhile. Way to go Em! Our pretty ballerina!

Here is the video.

Pictures:

This past week we were very lucky to have another day of snow. It was so much fun to see it fall like it did. I have never seen snow like that in my 30 years of being alive. It was so beautiful! Emma enjoyed playing in it at the Barrs and at home with the neighbors! The snow lasted a full day from Friday afternoon and it stayed on the ground until Saturday afternoon. It was beautiful!