Although I am still very emotional and am feeling awkward about putting forth these lighthearted posts in the wake of the tragedy and sorrows of last Friday, I also very much want to highlight the goodness in the every day. I want to reflect on ways to celebrate the small things, to immerse myself in creative ventures, to invest time and love into my family, friends and community. I’m doing my best to stay true to that.
With that in mind, I remembered how a couple of weeks ago, I had some friends and their children over to our house and had a wonderful time making gingerbread houses.
This one is K’s. Martha Stewart would weep, but I used this kit from Trader Joe’s. I have to say, I really like it. It’s kind of quirky (it’s called a “Hexen Haus” which translate’s to witch’s house) and the kids had so so much fun putting it together. They each got their own house, and the mamas helped with the icing. The candy factor is a little sparse and I included vinegar in the icing to make it a glue-like substance so that was a little gross, but otherwise, I deemed it a successful DIY party. We have it on our living room credenza and it makes me smile every time I see it.
I’m seeing so many great house-related crafts online and wanted to share a few of my favorites that I fully intend on trying out with K. A snow globe with an edible gingerbread house. Cute tags. Mermag‘s always awesome DIYs. Lit-up houses – so much inspiration….
It is such an emotional time… to find joy in the little things and then feel deep sadness is taxing on my soul, but all of this will only make me stronger and thankful of all my blessings. My last post on my blog, I posted just before I found out about the tragedy and I’ll leave it at that until I’m ready again.
Thank you Sanae for your posts and bringing a little smile to my face in this madness.
Thank you for the kind words, Venus. I spend a lot of time wondering how to proceed in a positive way and how to take small but active steps of prevention for the future…so hard.