A Christmas Tradition: Conner Prairie

It seems that a day at Conner Prairie has become an annual tradition for my family. It’s close to home and offers a unique Christmas experience- gingerbread. I haven’t come across anything quite like it in the area. Plus, Conner Prairie has a nice indoor play space that the kids love.

We first visited Conner Prairie for Christmas in 2008 and repeated that visit in 2009.

Last year, we were treated to an outdoor day at Conner Prairie and I’d hoped for a repeat- but only the indoor part was open. However, the gingerbread display did not disappoint. Best of all, I ended up running into a friend I made through MomsLikeMe- and she’s one of my favorite people- so the day was extra special. One of the highlights of running into my friend was that Teagan got to take her to see the gingerbread (my friend’s son didn’t want to- he just wanted to play). It was a special time for Teagan and I know she really loved that time with our friend.

We really needed it to be special given how the day had started out. And it was. We had a great couple of hours at Conner Prairie and ended the day in a special way- more about that tomorrow.

My kids will do gingerbread houses at school on Friday (sugar high!!!) and will either do a house with Daddy at home or at Grandma’s house on Christmas day.

On to the pictures- I love the creativity and hard work that goes into these projects!

This was fun- classic Fisher Price toys done in gingerbread!

A lovely green castle- that was decorated outside and in!!

An amateur entry of Hogwarts. Being a Harry Potter fan, I had to admire the work!

I loved the chocolate rock candy used on the chimney of this one.

This was cool- it was on a rotating platform. 4 houses representing gingerbread in all four seasons.

The details on this one was amazing! This was the Queen of Hearts Castle from Alice in Wonderland.

My kids were quite taken by the burger and fries- they thought it was really clever!

I loved the giant mug of hot cocoa with the peppermint stick. It was pretty and cozy.

Another one where the details knocked my socks off- a Christmas library. It was done by a mom and daughter who wanted to incorporate their favorite things into their piece.

Several entries done of buildings at Conner Prairie- this is the town Inn.

The Lenape Indiana village.

And the pièce de résistance is the Conner Homestead:

Love the detail here- if you look closely, you can see the horseshoe marks behind the horse along the side of the house!

Have you done gingerbread this year? My mom usually makes her own- it’s edible but not tasty but great for building. At school, they will create in the format I grew up with- graham crackers and icing. At home, Jeff might break out a kit or try something else. We might not have time to try it on our own at this year. But something about the holidays and gingerbread (and, as far as the kids are concerned, candy!!!) certainly sets a holiday tone for our family!

Christmas at Conner Prairie

So much going on the next couple of days! So I’ll just share a bunch of pics (click to see them big size) from our recent holiday adventures!

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

I do have some memories of my mom and I making gingerbread houses with graham crackers and icing. And it’s a tradition that I enjoy passing on to my kids. We haven’t done a house at home this year, but they did the graham cracker and icing houses at school. Grandma has actual gingerbread houses ready to be decorated on Christmas day. And we went to Conner Prairie last weekend and enjoyed the Gingerbread display.

Teagan’s gingerbread house from school- followed by pics of Teagan enjoying her sugar high and a nice pic of the kids sharing the gingerbread house.

Some of the pics of the professional gingerbread houses we saw- amazing detail!

And some pics of our trip to Conner Prairie. The grounds were beautiful in the snow. We enjoyed our visit so much that we got a membership! It’s a real deal- the annual family membership is only $65 and they were doing a promotion for $5 off! So I guess you can expect a lot more pics from CP over the next year.

Ca-Joh, Flartus, and my other cooking buddies- I thought of you when I saw how they were cooking the turkey for that night’s feast!

Connor Prairie also afforded Zach his first time to really play in and experience the snow. He was out in it last year but it didn’t mean much. This year, he discovered the raised garden beds at one of the CP homes and we had to almost literally tear him away…

I hope you are enjoying your Christmas Eve or your Thursday or whatever you have going on today!

Gingerbread Extravaganza!

We spent Saturday afternoon admiring the Gingerbread houses on display at the living history museum near our house- Conner Prairie. Building gingerbread isn't my forte but I imagine that Jeff will someday build extravagant structures and perhaps even enter this competition at Conner Prairie.

Santa's Vacation

Candy Carousel A holiday decorated house... what does that little sign in the yard say?Vote Obama! My goodness! I knew this one was my favorite! (The funny thing is that I live in the "Most Republican County" in the nation and this museum resides in that same county.)

A lighthouse

Cool little detail from the lighthouse- Santa's water sleigh!

A gingerbread stable

A gingerbread version of the game "Candyland"

A gingerbread Nativity

A church- I should have snapped the pic without the flash. The windows were actually lit from inside and glowed- it was really pretty.

2 story gingerbread house with a chewing gum roof

A first place winner- I like the tree in the front window.

I'm so not a Spongebob fan. But this was incredible! And it even had a back! The details on this were really amazing.

Jeff and Teagan started a gingerbread house of their own but it isn't finished quite yet. They are currently building with graham crackers and cherry icing. Hopefully the full scale decorations will get done this week... and maybe Jeff will even share the pics over on his blog- Jeffardy! (Can you tell that I really want him to keep blogging?)