How to Win a Gingerbread House Contest Without Eating the Evidence

Holiday gingerbread contests on a continuum care campus are usually sweet, but this year Jean's entry came with tweezers, birdseed, and a level of precision that borders on becoming an OCD legend. Along the way, this week's post revisits past showstoppers, memorable rivals, and one infamous “protest house,” all leading to a behind‑the‑scenes look at how this year’s  creation came together.  AI….

Since moving to my continuum care campus, I’ve entered the holiday gingerbread house decorating contest three times in the four years they’ve held them. My first house placed second and my second house won first. This year's judging just took place and I took first again (with the house at the top), but when I carried my house down and I saw another house (below) my heart sank. I thought it would beat the crap out of mine and hand me the crumbs in a paper bag. It was made by the kitchen staff, and they took the original kit and added another story using graham crackers. 

The year I took second place, the winner deconstructed the original kit, too, and made a house styled after one built by Frank Lloyd Wright, the most innovative architect in 20th century America. It was so clever. I didn’t mind losing to the couple who made that gingerbread house. They put so many clever details into their houses that it was just plain fun to look at. One year it was a broom with thin spaghetti for bristles that stole the show, and another year they spun sugar to make it look like an icy river. They also put a Christmas tree made out of spearmint candy inside, in front of a window, and the house was wired with lights. 

I sat out the making a house for last year's contest, because I didn’t want to be tempted by all the candy that is left over. For example, I once bought a bag of candy just to get one star out of the bag to top a Christmas tree and I needed just six squares of pretzels out of a bag for window panes and I ate the rest, which a person with high blood pressure shouldn’t be doing. And it cost a fortune to buy everything I used. 

The makers of the Wright-inspired house sat that year out, too, and that was the year the Art Professor caused a huge kerfuffle over a house she made to look like a bombed-out house in the Gaza Strip. She was going to make another protest house this year to resemble a coal-fired power plant but the kits were all gone when she asked for one. The CCC gives them out. First come, first served. This year three kits  wee taken and not returned. I suspect they ended up as gifts for  grandchildren. I know for a fact that happened last year. The guy was open about it and he probably started a trend. I don't get people why do things like that. 

Nor do I understand why someone would tried to sabotage this year's contest. Three days before the votes were to be counted I discovered that someone had crossed off the number on the placecard corresponding with my house and wrote in another number. (Houses are numbered and voters are to write a number on a ballot and put it in a ballot box.) Voting had already been going on a week before my number was changed. No one owned up to the "prank" and no one can figure out why someone would to that other than to try to screw up the contest. I was so mad! I worked a lot of hours on that house and I was sure they'd use that as an excuse not to declare a winner this year. A few people are against having the houses judged. "Can't we just make them for fun?"

Anyway, this year, I decorated the entire gingerbread house and its yard with birdseed and used salt-free peanut butter to ‘glue’ them on. (If you ever make one using birdseed, do some research to learn what is toxic to birds—regular peanut butter, honey, dyes, hard candies are a few things you shouldn't use.) But before I could even start, I spent two nights sorting birdseed from a mixed bag by color and size using a pair of tweezers. I think I have a bit of OCD in me. Sometimes I’ll find myself sorting magazines on the display rack at the grocery store. People pick them up and don’t care where they put them back. What I’m trying to say is I like sorting things. But I was told that I could have found a store that sells bulk seed, and bought what I needed already sorted. Oops. I have a lot of seed left over, but at least I won’t gain ten pounds getting rid of it. We can’t feed birds here, but I can take a walk around the campus and be like Johnny Appleseed spread leftover seeds and house parts alongside our mile-long trail around the lake.

Below are photos of the step-by-step process of making my gingerbread house.

The kit the CCC gave out.

What I used to sift the smaller seeds from the larger ones.

Unpacking the parts in the box.

During the unpacking I dropped the front of the house on the floor and ended up using peanut butter to "glue" the parts to cardboard to reinforce it .

Putting peanuts and seeds on the sides.

The roofs with their layered seeds

I added cardboard hinges to help hold the sides up while the corners dried

The white hinges I made to help give the broken front more support.

The next step was to do the borders around the house while the corners set up for a couple of days. I wanted them solid before the weight of the roof was added.

The finished front

The left side

The back of the house. Those are suet balls holding up the trees branches.

Top down looking at the right side yard

The finished house. The sign says, "for the birds."

I used a pair of tweezers to place every one of those seeds and some are very tiny. It was a labor intense house to make but I enjoyed the process, even the part about figuring out how to fix my boo-boo of breaking the front of the house.

Have a good Christmas, everyone! Thanks for stopping by.