All gingered out.

So I’ll spare you most of the details of my looooooooooooong – started at 5 am – Sunday.  It was typical volunteer work: help out here, do this, run this to that person….and it lasted all day.  My feet were throbbing by mid-afternoon but we were told that this was the most succesful Gingerbread Event they’ve ever had.  Whether or not they tell that to all the volunteers, I’ll never know…nor do I want to.

Some observations from the day:

• I am a kick-ass gingerbread house maker.  Before yesterday I had never ever put one together and mine were awesome.  I was even asked to make replacements for the duds that made their way to the tables.  Nice.
• Speaking of the duds, I was shocked at what people considered to be decent enough to sell.  Each house was put together (just the structure – the decorating was for the kiddos) and placed at a table where people spent $25 (yes, $25!) on a seat to sit and decorate it.  If people are spending $25 on a gingerbread house, pay a little attention and do a good job.  Most did not.   Someone even placed a house with a cracked, caved-in roof on the table to sell.  Ya, thanks for showing up.
• Speaking again of the duds.  I don’t think it was their fault.  They were teenagers.  Some very young.  It turns out that, in Ottawa, high school students are required to fulfill a volunteer hour quota to get a course credit.  So most of the girls there were only there because they had to be.  And you could tell.
• Teenagers talk about ridiculous things.  A lot.  And loudly.
• Everyone there had seen Twilight and “LOVED IT!”  And Robert Pattinson is “SO HOT!” 
• Yesterday totally got me in the Christmas spirit.  It sounds SO cheesy, but seeing the kids faces light up when Santa came in the room (best Santa I had ever seen, by the way), hearing the Christmas music and taking part in the decorating made me wish it was already December (my self-imposed decorating start date) and that we were already digging into our Advent calendars in anticipation.  I love Christmas and after a very difficult fall, for so many reasons, I’m thrilled that the magic of the Christmas season is finally here.  Next stop: A cruise down Taffy Lane.