Here at Vessel, we have many traditions. One of our favorites: The Ugly Sweater Party! We began with a pot-luck lunch (Sugar Fire made a comeback); made fun of our ugly sweaters (Kurt was the big winner this year!); watched Home Alone (because who doesn't love that movie?!); and finished the afternoon with a professional-quality gingerbread creation (scroll down for fun pics!). With the onset of a sugar coma, we scored it as another successful Vessel Christmas in the office!

Gingerbread Church

It has become an annual tradition to build a gingerbread version of a current project. This year, we built a 1/8" scale model of The Gathering United Methodist Church. Currently in the design stage, The Gathering's all-new campus includes a sanctuary for 550, a suite of children's classrooms, and a soaring space for coffee, connections, and prayerful encouragement.  The gingerbread version is constructed of our own homemade gingerbread and translucent candy glass- because anything worth doing is worth over-doing - and decorated with graham crackers, gumdrops, red hots, licorice rope, Hershey's chocolate "solar panels", and plenty of "structural frosting". Building it is only part of the fun; the real delight is  making a surprise delivery to the client! Click on the pics to see how building nerds do gingerbread!

The Design Process...

And of course it's not Christmas without the tradition of White Castles for breakfast! It is our standard practice to have Slyders on the last working day before Christmas. We're told that the Christmas joy filled our building all the way to the elevator lobby.