Gingerbread Time

Today we attended an incredible Christmas event to benefit a local organization that helps women and children affected by domestic violence. My neighbor has been working with Family Shelter Services for years and this new fundraiser was so much fun that I'd love to add it to our annual tradition list.

A local banquet center hosted the event and the place was gorgeous. Christmas trees and beautiful trim, little jars of candy by each place setting, and Father Winter strolling around, handing out little stickers. Everything was adorable.

Brunch was served to everyone, your typical breakfast fare, which is good for the kids because breakfast is always a safe meal. And the coffee was amazing. Don't ask me why it was so good, but we all took note of it. We were seated with some neighbors from our block, which made it even nicer. 

But the real show was at the gingerbread house tables. A pre-assembled house was positioned at each chair and volunteers walked around placing plates with candies, gum drops, and licorices in front of the kids for decorating their house. Then additional volunteers offered to squeeze icing on the houses, which was great for the little ones who had trouble navigating the knives and plates of icing.

Abe went for sheer volume

Anna went for precision

After the gingerbread houses, Anna wanted to visit the table with the winter fairy. They gave out "fortunes" and Anna was told that she would travel to great places. This was perfect for her! Abe was told that he liked books. He replied, "my sister likes books, I like superheroes." And the winter fairy quickly changed directions accordingly.

There was a balloon animal table (only two options: fish and a dog), but the real excitement was the face painting. I'm not very keen on face painting, but the kids wanted it and I was in a particularly giving mood. Abe selected Santa Claus and Anna selected Hello Kitty (??). And, no, I don't mean just little pictures on their cheeks.

Santa, spectacles and all...

Santa Claus was available for pictures and we did that, too. But our Santa Claus tradition takes place at the Christkindl Market in downtown Chicago so I didn't emphasize this one too much. We did get one picture though...

And that concludes our Saturday morning. It was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it to anyone local. Hope your holiday season is proving as merry and bright as ours is!