Incredible Gingerbread Houses

On Thursday my husband and I went to Asheville to the Grove Park Inn to see the gingerbread houses.

I could tell my husband was not really excited about seeing gingerbread houses.  He had not seen the television program that I had which showed last year’s entries into the annual contest.  He was expecting little cottages with gingerbread walls, candy canes, and lots of icing.  In other words he figured they would be your standard little gingerbread house.  He was in for a treat - a visual one.  No snacking allowed :-)  Here's a sample:

One of the top 10 winners in the adult category.

The Inn started doing this 20 years ago as a way to expand their Christmas decorating budget.  My husband and I had stayed at the famous hotel in the early nineties and I was very disappointed that there were so few holiday decorations. So I’m very glad they came up with a creative way to decorate such a beautiful hotel.  They have also added lots of elaborately decorated trees in the long corridors.

Lenny was stunned and I was amazed at the creativity, engineering, and ingenuity that went in to each entry.  Each “house” was a diorama depicting some element of the holiday season.  No one viewing the displays could believe that each entry was entirely edible.  Each one has to be something like 75% gingerbread.  Here are just a few photos which in no way do these creations justice.

"Not a Mouse was Stirring." My personal favorite.  That Mason jar is incredibly realistic.  Can you see all the little mice tucked in their beds?

The detail!  Those tiny little Corningware dishes are about 1 inch wide!

My husband's favorite was "The Partridge in a Pear Tree"  How would you get those leaves to stay that way as you added more leaves???

One of the top 10 Teen entries.  I love cats but I found this so cute with the mouse running the railroad.

How do you hold up those delicate fans?

If you’re ever in the Asheville, North Carolina area from Thanksgiving through the new year, be sure to visit the Grove Park Inn and see this display.  When we left my husband commented that he would never again feel bad about spending so much time repairing and refurbishing a pinball machine.  I’ll never think I spent too long on a scrapbook page again either because I can not imagine how many hours goes into making these gorgeous creations.

To see the grand prize winner click here.

I'll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card.  Thanks for visiting!