Can you actually eat it?

The excitement is building. The gingerbread house is decorated. Yeah, Bronwyn doesn't look too excited...but I was pulling her away from "A Year without Santa" in order to take the pic. Bits of candy are being removed from the house....I don't know what will be left of it by Christmas. I'm not sure of the gingerbread house tradition. Reminds me of Hansel and Gretel...NOT a very Christmassy story. A good one though.

Bronwyn keeps asking, "How many days, how many days??" We did get an advent calendar, but I didn't police it properly and Bronwyn opened all the doors and ate most of the pieces of chocolate in about 3 days...kinda missing the point, but oh well.

Mark had the day off and we braved wind and rain (traditional Vancouver Christmas weather) to go to the mall and do some last minute shopping that I didn't get around to before now. I did my bit of shopping and Mark took the kids to the children's "play" pit. My arm and side are still a bit sore so I don't feel like driving the car yet. Anyway, we got in and out pretty fast and it wasn't too crazy. That's the only mall shopping we will do. We always shop at local small stores for Christmas presents. I took a quick trip to the music store and picked Bronwyn up a 1/4 size guitar and I got River a glockenspiel (presents from Nanny in England). The more instruments in the house the better, as far as I'm concerned. It will be fun to teach Bronwyn some guitar. I really hope she takes to it. River loves letters and music...I thought a glockenspiel would be fun. I also enquired about banjo lessons for me...though I don't have a banjo. I'd love to learn the banjo. Maybe one day. For now I will make more time to play my flute. I find it relaxing and the kids love to listen. I think we could all do with more listening and more relaxation.