Painting is just another way of keeping a diary ~Pablo Picasso

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Village

We had a lot of fun decorating gingerbread houses this week.  Four family members built homes for our little village.  In the upper left, Eric's Bavarian Half Timber home with University of Washington flowers along the front.  His people are smartly dressed.  Notice the hip belt on the gingerbread man, and the fashion forward dress worn by the gingerbread lady. And his door is open; cleary a very friendly couple!  In the upper right, my brother's traditional gingerbread home, tastefully decorated and landscaped.  Note the beautiful flower box and shrubs with tiny red berries!  The people are inside working hard.  This traditional Alpen Haus is home to both a doctor and a lawyer.  On the lower right, Anna's Fantasy Who-ville home.  Snow has piled up on this cute home.  You can't see the side windows but she has them shuttered with the little red and white pillow candies, so there's a Dutch feel to the side and back of her house.  The residents are snug inside, working on their novels.  And in the lower left, my California Dream Home.  The inspiration for the home was a palm tree cookie cutter I got at Sur le Table in Berkeley.  I had a row of palm trees out the front, but unfortunately they didn't hold up too well.  If I did this again, I would burn the cookies and then glue two together before frosting, just to add strength.  After a few hours all my palm trees snapped, and it looked like a hurricane had come through!  But the other California features are the stucco exterior, tile roof, and California poppies in the front yard.  I also included a California golden bear looking in the garbage can in the back yard.  And to complete the stereotype, my sunbathing residents, enjoying the balmy California weather in their bathing suits.  For those of you in the Midwest, that is how we dress around here.  Ha ha (Not Really!)  Also, the weather is not balmy, but hey, we can dream right? 

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