Cleaning Up
Yesterday, we had a few (~20) friends for some old-fashioned gingerbread house-making fun. We had bought four kits, and a bunch of extra candy (partly because the candy that came with the kits was so low-grade, partly because we didn't know the kits came with candy).
The variety in the houses was impressive, especially when you consider that these were pre-cut slabs of gingerbread, and that there was a set floor-plan for the houses. All of the variety was in the decoration: one group went for a very traditional, very meticulous house, and it was truly a sight to behold. Another group was of the "how much candy can we fit onto our house?" school of thought, and ended up having to shore up their roof a few times, as the icing-mortar was simply not up to the task.
A third group was steered by a big fan of horror movies, and started out as a blood-and-gore scene. Ultimately, though, it morphed into a CSI-themed crime scene, complete with chalk outlines and evidence markers.
The fourth and final house... well, perhaps the less said, the better. Let's just say that the theme was Kateina-era New Orleans, and that although they were satirizing some of the images and race issues surrounding that event, they had had a bit too much to drink for the target of their alleged wit to be obvious.
In addition to the gingerbread houses, we had an impromptu carolling session, as M- was press-ganged into sight-reading through the Big [but surprisingly incomplete] Book of Christmas Songs. (I mean it: who includes Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas (Is You)" - but leaves out "Winter Wonderland"?!) It was a rollicking good time, especially as my brother and I tried to out-silly each other (alas, he won hands-down), either by going as high into our falsetto registers as possible, or by butching it up as much as we could for the "men" parts of Good King Wenceslas.
Finally, a mere 11 hours after it started, the party finished and the last guest went home. A quick pre-cleanup triage later, Martha and I hit the hay.
This morning we finished the bulk of the cleaning (only a couple more racks-full ofglassware to go!), and headed out to the Sing-Along Messiah. But more on that in a future post (I hope).
Posted via LiveJournal.app.