The Holiday Gingerbread Frenzy...

Ah! Christmas is coming, and with it my family's notoriously crazy gingerbread house competition.

I come from a very creative family and the entries are always interesting! There have been log cabins made of pretzels, brick houses made from Nibs, cereal treat castles and, of course, traditional (ish) cookie houses. There have been ponds made from blue gummy candies, sidewalks made out of dog biscuits, and, my personal favourite--a gingerbread biffy. (*our family vernacular for privy, outhouse, or rustic "facilities")

Two years ago, I concocted a chocolate cookie house from a kit but placed Hershey chocolate bar minis on the roof as solar panels and made up a tale of Santa going "green" at the North Pole. It's a bit heavy on Elon Musk and Tesla references, but it made my family laugh. I'll upload it to the end of this blog post for those who wish to read it...

Last year, in Barbados, I discovered gingerbread houses are not part of the local Christmas culture. Ants, presumably, being the reason. 

I ordered all sorts of bits and bobs in and managed to create an entry that I stored in the microwave to prevent ants finding it until the big reveal.

It had blue fondant water, and icing pears for seafoam on the shore. Coarse, locally sourced, Barbados brown sugar provided sandy beaches. My "chattel house" was bright yellow with cereal shingles, fondant shutters and doors, and there was a very typical fruit stand out front full of tiny candy fruit. Gummy frogs provided the whistling frogs of Barbados to my scene and I modelled a fondant gecko of slightly larger than scale proportions to perch on the roof. Fruit-loop cereal tree trunks and edible corn starch palm fronds created palm trees. It was a hoot! Although it was tough not to eat the frog gummies...

This year, I am temporarily located with my sister and her husband in British Columbia, recovering from an eye surgery. This means, I am assisting with entries here as well as planning my own.

I can't give away the plans but will post an update when the competition (which, really, everyone wins...) is over! In the meantime, I created this little video for fun.

Warning (tongue in cheek) that this may contain scenes of violence which some viewers may find disturbing. I found them quite delicious!

And before I sign off today, here's my "Green" Christmas tale from 2021:

​It’s been very busy
At the North Pole this year
Amid Covid pandemics and
Climate change fears.
 
Santa’s team is assessing
And doing their part
To reduce their emissions
While not losing heart.
 
The sleigh’s eco friendly,
Thanks to the reindeer,
But the lights and the workshop
Must revamp I hear.
 
So they called Elon Musk
(Santa’s favourite lad)
They said, “You’ve been busy
Making Tesla go ‘Plaid’”
 
“Can you help us?” They asked,
“To make this Christmas Green?”
Elon said “Yes!” and he
Worked with the team.
 
Assessing their assets
He soon found a way
By setting up Santa’s
New solar array.
 
On the roof of the workshop
It soaks up the sun
During 24 hour daylight
While the elves have some fun.
 
Storing the power In the
New power wall,
When it’s time for work, well,
It powers it all!
 
So remember dear children
That Satan’s gone green
As you enjoy looking at
This holiday scene!

(Below you will find two galleries...2021 and 2022!)