Our House, in Candy

After discovering that cousin LT made a gingerbread house, JT clamored for one of his own. So we went shopping for supplies. He was very excited about buying candy, but I limited it to some Holiday mints and ersatz-gumdrops. (Our local grocery store was not selling gumgrops, so we had to do with tropical flavor Dots. They ended up in the trashcan tonight.) The rest we had at home. Since I didn't bother to make a gingerbread house blueprint, we ended up with a flat roof. But the other half of the roof was tasty!

Some of our favorite Christmas traditions (I am not sure the gingerbread house will end up on this list in future years. We'll see.)
- tree-cutting. Not quite as "green" as a live tree, but it is fun. And then we decorate it with my collection of "Grandma" ornaments and, as of this year, with chocolate ornaments. (Today I found a little boy with chocolate on his mouth and an empty rapper on the floor. I thought it was suspiciously quiet in that room while I was making dinner - sauerkraut strudel, in case you are wondering.)
- Nikolo. He came last night and put chocolates in our shoes. And a little swimming elephant for JT. He claimed, "Nikolo built it. He used a tiny screwdriver to put the screws in." Then he said, "Nikolo comes down the chimney. Santa just goes in the door." Hmm, sounds like he is a bit confused. He was also concerned that Santa was going to squish the ornaments we put into the fireplace (on the candleholder).
- the advent calendar. The past two years each day JT got to put a sticker ornament on a tree. This year it is a 3-d foam tree, and some of the ornaments are "crafts." I wanted to make a matchbox activity calendar [something like this], but a. I wasn't sure we would be able to actually do the activities on time, and b. i didn't have time to buy matchboxes and decorate them. I think I will definitely do it next year. Or maybe make the boxes after Christmas this year and just add the slips of paper right at Christmas time or a day or two before we open each one.
- trains around the Christmas tree. A father-son favorite. Until our new diesel engine had a little fire yesterday. "Stinky," JT proclaimed. It had to be sent in for repair. :( Hopefully our steam engine will come out of retirement (i.e. a friend's studio where it is residing with some other trains).
What are your favorite holiday traditions?

P.S. R- I haven't forgotten about the meme yet, just mulling it over.