I thought this was the perfect year to go all out on a gingerbread house since we don’t have holiday parties and other festivities. This house uses the Waterford pattern, which I first made in cardboard to adjust the design and ensure everything fit correctly. I used gum for the bricks and tried to recreate slate tiles using fondant. Since I used gelatin leaves for the windows, I decided I needed to decorate the interior with framed windows, a fireplace, tree, a couple of wreaths and some pretzel furniture. It was a joy to make and made this year!

This house uses many candies purchased from the 99-cent store. The back of the house has a large garden with mushrooms, pumpkins and peas !!

This display is baked gingerbread with fondant figures. The magi and shepherds with their sheep surround the manger scene.

The Gingerbread was made from scratch and is a tried & true recipe that Jim has perfected over the years. The stained glass windows are made from gummy bears baked into the dough.

The light shinning through the windows is an added treat!

All decorations are 100% edible . The house took 25-30 hours to complete.

Gingerbread covered fondant with royal icing; decorations made from thyme, dill and rosemary.

Pulling into station, it’s The North Pole Express! Our gingerbread train carries homemade confections through the snowy mountains. Built by The Gingerbread Sisters, Kyndall & Laurel, this display is made using gingerbread, royal icing, & isomalt windows.

Everything is gingerbread! I used colored sugar, sprinkles, gumballs, M&M's, red hot candies, fondant, royal icing, candy canes, graham cracker and spices (sand) and Swedish fish around the base.

Home. A place of refuge, rest, and care.
The last few years I’ve gotten away from the Gingerbread House. From monuments to monoliths, the themes got larger in scale and scope, and the thought of “just a house” was boring. And then came 2020. Where home became everything - to everyone. It was where we were safest. Where we fed ourselves and rested ourselves. Where we comforted each other and frustrated each other. Where we held everything from fencing lessons to choir concerts. Cocktails to scavenger hunts. Workouts. Talent shows. Birthdays. Weddings. Funerals.
The concept of the home is universal, but we all define it differently. Whatever your home has been through this time, I hope you remember it and cherish it for what it is—the creeky floors or the shiny knobs or the leaky roof that you never got fixed last year when contractors were still allowed inside and you were too lazy because it didn’t seem like that big a deal. As 2020 comes to a close and many of us find ourselves back in the confines of our home, I hope you will find all the joy and comfort your home provides. Happy Holidays!

For a few years, we've been building a gingerbread house to decorate over Thanksgiving weekend. This year's house reminds me of the Renaissance carol "Down in Yon Forest." The house's stained glass windows include four in the traditional rose style, as well as a fifth larger rose window featuring its namesake flower. Some clear windows are bordered by colored candy glass tiles. Climbing ivy on the porte-cochère is echoed by festive swags and garlands. The house is approximately three feet long, two feet deep, and two feet tall. It is 100% edible apart from the lighting and the display platform.

We didn't have a local contest this year so a bunch of us put up a display at the usual restaurant thanking front line workers. I made the stores with signs saying thank you. Because it wasn't a contest I did add non-edible trees.

I saw this house (the Carson mansion in Eureka, CA) in 2006. I thought it would be cool to make, but I didn't know how I would ever do it. My daughter finally convinced me (dared me) to make it. It's about 98% gingerbread. Windows are isomalt with wafer paper shades. There's a little pastillage and splenda for snow