Christmas at the beach

pink reindeer?  only at the beach :)

This year, the kids wanted to be 100% in charge of decorating our Christmas tree.  They chose a pre-lit white one and even put it together by themselves...

...which left me with free time to stand out on the porch of our vacation rental and take pictures of the beautiful sunset :).  I can handle that...

funny how different the colors came out in these pics...this pic shows how vivid it really was

Over the next several days, the kids crafted paper chain garlands and snowflake ornaments to go on our tree.  They did a great job, it all turned out beautiful!

We made our annual gingerbread houses...using empty cartons for the base and layering on frosting and graham crackers...and tons of candies (some even made it onto the houses ;))...

The only thing missing was Dan :(.  He had to work this Christmas up in Pennsylvania (where our camper currently sits, also, thus the need for a vacation rental...in case you missed it, I said why in this post).  We have been married for 17 years and this is the first Christmas we have ever spent apart...and hopefully the last.  It just wasn't the same without him here...