Gingerbread Houses 2021

Once I was out on my own, and able to decide more what I wanted out of the holidays & traditions, I knew I wanted a tradition that involved quality time, and creativity. I've never been a fan of matching pajamas, forced outings, or material gift exchanges. So, the tradition I chose: making gingerbread houses.

The first few years, I got push-back and some sass from involved parties, but over the years it's gotten increasingly competitive, especially since we always have people voting on the winner. In fact, last year got so bad that people were pre-making elements of their houses, which feels like too much emphasis on winning, personally. (We've learned that pre-built gingerbread houses are better for time, and patience levels, but I mean people were pre-making decorative elements)

Each year's participants vary. This year, it was me, Drew, my mother-in-law, and my brother.

Here are this year's gingerbread houses:

Mine did NOT win, but I'm very proud of the person that did win, my brother, he's definitely the "most improved" over the years - and was one of the early-sass participants.

* This post is coming a bit belated, but January & February of 2022 have been action packed so far, so a delay was bound to happen.