Edible Construction

December 16, 2011

The holiday season brings about many great traditions. I love the feeling of participating in a traditional activity and finding it hard to remember how it all began. Those are the traditions that bring the warmest feelings because I feel surrounded by the truest sense of comfort.

This year I had the wonderful opportunity of participating in someone else’s well-established tradition. The Messerlys have been having people over to make gingerbread houses for a great number of years. This event has changed some over the years whether it being the amount of people or the type of edible (check the expiration date) material that is used. However, the basis of it is still the same: people gather and let their creative juices flow allowing imaginative structures to be made along with great memories.

Thank you Messerly family for letting me participate in this marvelous tradition!

My house: Front view (L) Rear view (R) complete with Christmas tree in the window :)

Laura' Surf Shack

Other creations:

Celebration of Lights

December 10, 2011

Back in the ol’ college days, every Christmas season we would head towards downtown Marion to see the Walk of Lights. Every year, all of the lights were the same and in the same place. However, each year it was great to get all bundled up, cram into a car with a group of friends, and go see the favorites.

One of the ol’ college friends lives about 40 minutes away from me now. We both love Christmas and all of the festivities, so we planned this trip weeks in advance. We didn’t haul it up to Indiana, but we did find some local lights that filled the reminiscent gap.

We arrived at sunset, perused the old fashion candy shop, and headed to the end of the line to catch the train. After our ride, we were glad we got there when we did. The line had almost double. As we drove off, the line of cars was even more outrageous! At first, I thought we might have been a little over excited by arriving to a light show with the sun still partially in the sky. However, as we drove past car after car after car, it was pleasantly confirmed that there is no shame in being early.

Although it was hard to get a good photo opportunity on a moving train, I tried to make the best of it. Here are some of the highlights: