Julaften 2014...

In our household, Christmas Eve is almost as big as Christmas Day itself... that's because one of the perks of being married to a Norwegian, is that you get to celebrate the traditions every way... meaning two days of celebrations, two days of great food, and two days of presents :)

We spent the morning finally getting round to baking and building our gingerbread house... this has become a yearly tradition and requires the girls full involvement. So while Papa got on with some sorting and organising, us girls got down to baking.

Aprons at the ready, hands washed, sleeves rolled up = two happy little people!

We spent the morning baking, and then two little ladies went for their nap time while Mama put the thing together... with the aid of a few cocktail sticks and a serious amount of icing. There were a few moments where I thought the whole thing may collapse on me, but we got there in the end!

As soon as the small ones had awoken, we headed off to join our fellow Scandinavians to celebrate Julaften together. Four familes, eight children, St Lucia, amazing food and Glogg warmed over the firepit made for a pretty special evening.

 And of course, our gingerbread house sat patiently, waiting to be decorated...

Until the time finally came... then it was all hands on deck...

children's faces have been purposefully blurred.

And here we have it... our Gingerbread house in all its decorated glory...

We dismantled the house so every family had a bit to take home, and then headed back ourselves, with cold hands and warm hearts to a Skype appointment with our Norwegian family, and the first presents of Christmas...

And of course, the girls had to leave out some of their gingerbread, and some milk, for a certain expected visitor before heading off to bed!