Sugar and my daughter, Grendel-Beast

We had Beck's brother over on Saturday to build gingerbread houses and mingle the cousins. We had a great time. The above photo is me holding a sugar-crazed daughter who miraculously stopped moving long enough to get a picture.

The houses were great. Except for my friend Laura's house that didn't exactly stick together using frosting. So... we went to the hot glue gun. FYI - if you need to build a gingerbread house in a hurry (and hey, who doesn't) a hot glue gun works WAY better than frosting. And... the glue is non-toxic, so therefore everything is officially edible. Of course, no one eats a gingerbread house anyway. They just sit on their cardboard getting stale while we all pick the jujubees off the roof.

Anyway good time was had by all - until about 10 o'clock. We had geniusly timed my two-year -old's sugar rush to dissipate at 9 pm, so she went to sleep while I was reading her stories (LOVE when that happens). But my five year old turned in to Grendel the beast at about 10:30. She was that unholy combination of sugar, lack-of-sleep, and being five. She spun a legendary tantrum that not only woke her sister, but invoked the dreaded Santa threat ("you think Santa's going to bring you presents if you keep acting like this?") Histrionics ensued, and then finally, peace.

It's worth it though. Parents only get about five or six years to create magic Christmases and after that it's all i-Tunes gift cards and mountain bikes. So we'll keep making the gingerbread and cookies, and deal with the tantrums. I say it's an even trade. But, if someone knows of a good sugar-free Christmas treat, I'm all ears.