Thankfulness, hugs, and gingerbread

I can't imagine a nicer Thanksgiving.  Kia helped me prep quite a bit the day before and we had a pretty laid back Thursday, with all of the chopping done ahead of time. 

We even baked a double batch of gingerbread cookies on Wednesday,  which made for a fun morning of playing with icing and sprinkles before getting dinner in the oven.

After cookie masterpieces were created, we popped a little turkey into the oven (for the few of us that were not vegan) and headed out to the woods to enjoy the sunshine and the last of the fall colors.

We didn't go far, just out in our back yard, we have ten acres that have a few trails through the trees.

While out there, we visited the fallen Grandfather Tree, which we have harvested to make slabs. In the future, it will be a dining room table.

For now, it is fun to climb on.

And jump off of.

The grandfairies found a few fun places to climb around.

And Avahni showed off her fire fighter training by carrying people around.

Dororthy enjoyed it.

Twinkle isn't as fond of the hugging.

 But the girls are.

After a festive dinner with lots of toasts and laughter, we started decorating gingerbread again, this time some premade houses. 

Every year, I get a couple for the littlest grandfairies to pile up sky high with globs of candies, but didn't even think about getting them for everyone to play with.

But after watching the Halloween baking shows with Ryan, he and I thought we should probably try our hands at making some houses ourselves.

I certainly had plenty of toppings!  We do NOT eat these, they are just for display, so we use candy that has been around longer than Dewdrop, back when Sugarwings first crafted a house. And I buy the 25 cent, clearance decorations after Christmas to save up and use too.  

The only fresh stuff we have is for the cookies that we eat, and they are dye free, organic goodies.

Oh, yes, I do buy fresh fondant to play with too.  You have to have that soft and pliable, it doesn't save like hard candies do.  

The big girls like the fondant as much as the little ones do. Thia made a unicorn with hers.

This looks like it will be a holiday tradition around here, we had such a good time with it, that there is already talk of gingerbread birdhouses for Easter.  And maybe even some more houses at Christmas dinner?  Although, we usually spend the evening playing games that the kids get as gifts from Santa after dinner on that day, and decorating cookies in the afternoon.

I am truly blessed to have a family who can enjoy a relaxing day together, while pitching in to help with cooking so that the day wasn't all about slaving away in the kitchen and dozing in front of a game on TV. 

And I was thrilled to have them want to make Gingerbread Houses!  I'm not really a Thanksgiving person, for me, it is just the gateway to the holiday season, it is hard to hold back and not start rushing headfirst into Christmas before Thanksgiving is over.  

This season, I decided there was no reason to hold back and went for it.  I was glad to have my trees up, and the twinkling lights strung for atmosphere.  And loved having these houses to do, even though they are a traditional Santa thing, not a turkey thing.  

(with a side of Turkey!)

The kids were calling the meal, our "Healthgiving" Dinner, we kept all of the items freshly made, with no processed foods. With everyone helping, that wasn't hard to do. There were circus tricks on the aerial rig, a walk in the woods, crafting, massage therapy, and we all took turns giving a Huzzah! for what we were feeling grateful for. 

The laughter, warmth, and hugs were much appreciated.  

What a nice holiday! I hope you had a happy one too.