I want candy!

Gaudete Sunday started off innocently enough...

Twelve houses awaited creative minds:

Then, the candy carnage began...

Zydeco and his friends teamed up against their house.  They proceeded to load the roof with

as much candy as possible, attempting to ascertain the structural fail point

of gingerbread.  All in the name of science, of course.

Irish Jig grabbed her bag of icing and hits the ground running, so to say.  No help or

assistance needed - and when offered was vehemently denied.  Katie took

advantage of the Jig's independence and claimed a house to decorate her way.

The tongue of concentration is awesome!

Jazz incorporated gymnastics equipment into her design this year.

She focused on decorating this house for at least an hour and a half.

Not too shabby for 4 years old.

Classic Rock and his good friend adapted the "more is better" approach to creating.

There was much candy ingesting at that station and not much attention to detail.

They did create a Twizzler football field, however...

Our favorite college student (Katie's brother) displayed his knack for 

accounting by aligning his candy columns.

These two had constantly puffy cheeks because they kept

squirreling away candy...

As always, this one conned her favorite people into

showering her with attention when the decorating fun ended.

As I milled around the kitchen, watching the candy fray and soaking up the laughter, I was reminded that Gaudete means "rejoice".  It's the Sunday we celebrate passing the halfway point of Advent as we prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus.  It's also become the official Gingerbread House Sunday, when we rejoice with our friends, thankful always for their continued support, love, humor, and grace. 

The line to one of my favorite psalms cycled through my mind all day:

This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice!

I hope you continue to rejoice with your family and friends as this wonderful Season unfolds!

Today's blog post title from Bow Wow Wow's I Want Candy.