Rowley: December 2010

Well, another year down. This year was probably the easiest year yet...but still, I think I'm ready to call it quits. I was discussing it with some friends and it's been eight years. Eight years. That's a long run, right? Maybe I'll do it for ten years, a nice round number, and then go out with a bang! Bret said we'll give away a car to the winner!hehe Will anyone be in the market for a 2005 Nissan Altima? It's just that, the older the kids get, the harder it is to leave them out. I thought about doing a separate party for them, but that could very possibly kill me. So I think, two more years, then I start doing it for them.

There. Two more years. Done. It's on the blog, so it's official.

Right, ON WE GO!

First place was, once again, newcomers! Chad and Sarah came into the game with Rapunzel's tower. "Tangled" took first place.

Rapunzel was the theme of the night, or so it seemed. Ryan and Tracy took second with, "Let Down Your Hair". Look at the amount of gingerbread on that board!

Third place, "for creativity," Kendra said, was Mike and Rene's "Crapper Can".

I can't decide if it's fortunate or unfortunate that I didn't get a good shot of the inside. It was perfectly disgusting in every way.

A HUGE, GIGANTIC, VERY BIG, THANK YOU to Kendra, Jay and their friends for braving the cold when all the logs had burned out and judging all the houses. You guys are awesome!

Now for all those losers! (I can say that because we were one of them!)

It was Cara and Jason's first show, so we'll let it slide. They didn't bring any candy for decorating so I gave them some of ours. Totally against the rules, but like I said, we'll let it slide.
They may have saved it with the name, though. I present to you, "Section 8".

Here's Tim and Nancy with "Powered by Windmill".

John and Rose came for the first time. They turned in "Hansel and Gretl on a budget".

I think I've enjoyed this more since we've started naming the houses!

Gennifer and Jeffrey brought in the "Sugar Bowl".

..see what I mean with the names! Get it? It's a bowling alley and it's made out of...candy...which is made out of...sugar! I'm quick like that!

And here is one of my favorites. Julie and Preston brought in a whole "Ski Lodge".

I liked the mountainscape in the background with the ski lift. Very creative. I think I liked most how they had it standing up with little gingerbread easels...at least that's what I would call them. It was too cute.

And here we are with "Visions of Sugar Plums".

Julie said something along the lines of "This looked much better in my mind," as they were decorating their house. I think most of us were feeling that way by the end of the night! It's very hard to translate your glorious vision into gingerbread, icing and candy. But I was mostly happy with how ours turned out. We just ran out of time and I didn't get to put everything on that I had planned, so it was rather plain. I did get to make sheets of hard candy from scratch for the first time! It was rather awesome...I just never got to use it on the house! It didn't work for what I wanted to use it on.

Bret made the kids graham cracker houses this year. They were so excited! I guess that's mostly why I think I should start planning their parties instead of my own!