This year we did something new during the holidays not just for Freya but for aunt Marcella! With Jesse missing out on our first holiday with Reiner it hasn't been easy. But with that said we have leaned hard on family and couldn’t have had a better holiday season. (Of course the cherry on top would have been if Jesse were here with us.) We have celebrated with many friends and family during Thanksgiving and Christmas but I think one of my favorite memories of holiday season 2019 has to be making gingerbread houses. I picked up a holiday village of tiny gingerbread houses at the store and waited for the most perfect moment to bring them out. It wasn’t until Marcella and David came to hang out all day with us that I decided to break open the village. Freya had no idea what these pieces of cookie were let alone all the candy decorations and icing. So she let me open it all uninterrupted. As I set it up i grabbed my camera (typical photographer mom I know hahaha) to start snapping away at the very first time she would make a gingerbread house. As we all took turns helping her form these houses, I found out it wasn’t just Freya’s first time it was also Marcella’s first time making them. So I made sure to document them both struggle to put these tiny houses together with the “cement” type icing. Well let’s just say we all tried our best to make them look kinda like houses but it really was a fight to get them to stay together. This was most difficult with tiny fingers knocking them over to eat all the icing off of them too. Hahaha Oh Freya!! She had a blast and now we know to just have a separate house just for her. After it was all said and done we just got the house together without any decorations. Yup they were pretty naked houses. But no worries Mamaw took care of that later that night. So they did finally get all those yummy colorful treats draped all over them and finally looked like all those picture perfect (well crooked but perfect to us) gingerbread houses. They were the perfect touch for our family Christmas party a few days later. And what a cool memory to have. I can officially say I was impressed with Freya trying to make the houses look pretty but not surprised by her wanted to eat all the sweets. It was as if Jesse was with us. His sweet tooth has been passed down to her and it made the day! I sent him these photos and he was so excited to at least have a part in the day. It’s not easy being apart during moments like these but technology is helping him feel closer than the thousands of miles he is away. I can’t wait til next year!! He will be in for a treat when he gets to do all the house making!!
