Our Late But Great Christmas (And A Good Gingerbread House Icing Recipe)

...Continued from yesterday: 
      And so on the afternoon of December 26 I picked up my Los Angeles loved ones from the Columbus airport.​

       As soon as we arrived home my grand daughters wanted to get their Christmas on, starting with the gingerbread house kits that Theresa had, thank goodness, found the day before at a nearby CVS that was open on Christmas.
​      However, I had the girls wait before starting their houses until I made some extra icing/glue, 

​...as there's never enough icing in the kits, and our experience has been that the icing that's provided tends to be rather second-rate, dense, gluey not in a good way, and hard to work with.
        For those of you who would like a good gingerbread house icing recipe, here's the one I use:
        Gingerbread House Icing

         2 egg whites (I accidentally put three eggs in the above photo, but you only need two)
         1 tsp cream of tartar
          3 cups powdered sugar
         In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer at medium speed.
         Add powdered sugar in small amounts, mixing well on high after each addition.           Beat on high speed 4-5 minutes or until mixture thickens.
         Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use. You may need to stir icing to soften it before use.

​         As always, this icing did the trick.

       One of my grand daughters opted to go for a fairly minimalist motif on her house, while the other went for a more traditional gingerbread look. 

      Both fit in fine with our holiday decor.

        That night the girls opened their gifts, the best of which were the various slimes from their Aunt Theresa,

...who, as she herself admits, did go a weence slime-crazy, what with all the varieties to choose from out there (see post from 11/23/2023,   https://www.ailantha.com/blog/slime-101).

      We decided that the following day would be Christmas Day, and so we started the morning of December 27 with our traditional Christmas breakfast, aka "The Big Breakfast," which comes together with the help of all hands,

...and for which, happily, Tommy and Theresa were able to join us.

      We spent the day doing the things people do on Christmas: playing some games,

...doing some dishes,

...sitting around,

…and feeling happy to be together, even while missing those loved ones whom we wished were there.
        That night we had Christmas dinner,

...and gave thanks for our belated Christmas.
​       Which really did feel nonetheless like Christmas.