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susandennisMy Mom used to get into the home construction business starting in about October. She built gingerbread houses from scratch. In October she'd start with the bits. All the walls, the roofs, the chimney's etc. Then as Christmas neared, she'd move into the actual building phase. She used molasses to mortar her houses together and then she'd ice and decorate each one. They were about 1 foot x 1 foot x 1.5 feet high. And each had a yard, fully candy-scaped.
Some years she made 6 or 7 and some years 2 or 3. When she lived in the South before air conditioning, it was kind of a struggle to keep the business going. Humidity counteracted against both the gingerbread and the molasses and the 'yard' seemed to kind of melt a little sometimes. But, she persevered.
We usually kept one. It sat in the center of the dining room table. Mother and Daddy were pretty much party animals and at Christmas the house was always decorated to the nines - the gingerbread house was the crowning jewel.
The other ones she made were precious gifts to friends and sometimes strangers. I remember there was one that was a silent auction item. It fetched $100 (this was in the late 60's) and the woman who bought it also bought a freezer to store it in and brought it out year after year after year.
The things were totally eatable but we never got to eat them. If she broke a wall or burnt a roof section, then maybe we could eat those but we never got to eat the house. I don't remember why. One time she gave one to my friend Babsie's family because Babsie's brother had leukemia. After Christmas, Babsie's Mom let them eat theirs and I at least got a small piece of that action.
But the whole reason for this trip down caloric memory lane is two finds today... Both are thumbnails - click for the bigger version. They are cracking me up.
Some years she made 6 or 7 and some years 2 or 3. When she lived in the South before air conditioning, it was kind of a struggle to keep the business going. Humidity counteracted against both the gingerbread and the molasses and the 'yard' seemed to kind of melt a little sometimes. But, she persevered.
We usually kept one. It sat in the center of the dining room table. Mother and Daddy were pretty much party animals and at Christmas the house was always decorated to the nines - the gingerbread house was the crowning jewel.
The other ones she made were precious gifts to friends and sometimes strangers. I remember there was one that was a silent auction item. It fetched $100 (this was in the late 60's) and the woman who bought it also bought a freezer to store it in and brought it out year after year after year.
The things were totally eatable but we never got to eat them. If she broke a wall or burnt a roof section, then maybe we could eat those but we never got to eat the house. I don't remember why. One time she gave one to my friend Babsie's family because Babsie's brother had leukemia. After Christmas, Babsie's Mom let them eat theirs and I at least got a small piece of that action.
But the whole reason for this trip down caloric memory lane is two finds today... Both are thumbnails - click for the bigger version. They are cracking me up.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-20 07:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-20 07:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-20 07:42 pm (UTC)I hope someone gets to eat those!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-20 08:04 pm (UTC)Yummm
Date: 2004-12-20 09:49 pm (UTC)"Party animals" huh. I am sure there are some good stories behind that line.
Jason
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-21 05:02 am (UTC)One day I was looking through her recipe cards and came upon a newspaper clipping with a picture of her (and I think my older brothers) with one of those gingerbread houses. It turned out the Windsor Star had run an article with her recipe and instructions for building one, probably in the early 60s before I was born.
I was always allowed to eat the stale gingerbread, but you weren't missing much, in fact I often declined.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-21 05:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-21 12:23 pm (UTC)