Gingerbread House, Painting Class, and Anniversary Dinner

Two Saturdays ago was a busy day. Our first event was at Red Fish Grill; we attended their gingerbread house workshop that morning. Dana and Dave took Claire and Colin last year and had a great time, so they invited us; Diana, Jamey, and Alcee; and Jeff, Erin, Kate, and Luke to join them this year.

We arrived, found our table, and saw the gingerbread houses preassembled and ready to be decorated. Each family got a big bucket of candy to use, as well as three different colors of icing. The kids jumped right in and started adorning their houses. And of course they had to sample the candy.

 

Then Santa and two of his elves made their way around the dining room, stopping by each table to visit for a bit. My hope that Rory would no longer freak out when he saw Santa was unfounded; he started crying as soon as the big guy approached our table. Poor kid.

Rory was just fine a few minutes later, and everyone finished up their houses shortly after. The boys’ house ended up looking like a hot mess but I loved what they did. With some help from Mama and Daddy.

 

 

There was plenty of candy leftover, though, and Riley sampled more than his fair share. Oh, and Kenny also squeezed icing directly into Riley’s mouth. Then Jeff did the same to Kate. Because they definitely needed more sugar.

 

The party broke up not long after that, and we told everyone goodbye. Then, since we were so close, we took the boys over to the Roosevelt to walk through the beautifully decorated lobby. So pretty! Rory especially loved the gingerbread Christmas tree display with a streetcar in front of it.

Later that afternoon, I met Dana and Diana for a holiday painting class at Painting with a Twist. I hadn’t done a painting like this in a long time, and I’m so glad we went. We painted a fleur de lis wrapped with Christmas lights. I love it!

 

Kenny picked me up from painting and we headed downtown for our anniversary dinner. Nola and Nopsi kept the boys so we could have a fun night out celebrating 9 years. We went to Josephine Estelle in the Ace Hotel and had a great meal. The snapper crudo with lemon and brown butter was especially divine. We even shared a wonderful bottle of wine from the Alsace region of France, in honor of Kenny’s family ties there. Then we went back to the Roosevelt to have an after-dinner drink, where we saw a festive group of guys out partying. Last but not least we stopped by Dana’s twin sister Lynn’s Christmas party for a little while.

What a night. What a day! Holiday season is in full swing, and it’s so much fun.