Gingerbread Houses

This past weekend my husband and I held our annual holiday party.  To keep things interesting, each year we choose a theme for our party, usually a country or great city,  I'll cook up a vegetarian feast inspired by the theme while my husband constructs a gingerbread creation. In the spirit of the season,

I thought it'd be fun to share some of his gingerbread masterpieces.

One year we combined France and England. Here's Notre Dame with Big Ben from across the pond.

And I'm sure everyone recognizes this famous tower in the heart of Paris.

Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe

 

There's Whitehall Palace in London in the back, surrounded by a potpourri of traditional English desserts.

Here's the man himself, in a New York state of mind.

One year I was looking for a challenge and hit upon the bright idea of Colonial America. Here's the Governor's Palace at Williamsburg, compares pretty well with the original.

Gingerbread Governor's Palace

Here's the actual building. It's hard to tell then apart!

We've done several parties with Italy as the host country. Here's the Leaning Tower of Pisa, lean

included!

Sometimes my husband opts for a more stylized interpretation, as in this map of the boot of Italy.

By now you might have noticed the cyclists. An avid bike rider and fan of all things cycling, my husband always tries to include a few bikes in the mix.


Our theme isn't always limited to one place. One year we based our party on the medieval pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Saint James in Santiago.

El Camino de Santiago is also known as the Way of St. James, St. James's Path, or simply The Way, the route travels through several countries, which are represented in this gingerbread diorama.

On the right the origin countries of Italy and  France are represented by the Colosseum and the Arc de Triomphe. On the far left stands Belem Tower in Portugal while the great Cathedral of St. James is firmly grounded in the center.

Here's a closeup of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

This year our theme was the lovely city of Quebec, the most European city of North America. For his gingerbread creation, there was only one choice: the beautiful Château Frontenac! 

The Château Frontenac in twilight

The Château Frontenac in gingerbread.

Though unique and uniquely beautiful, gingerbread was made for eating. Soon after the party, the demolition begins, with the neighborhood kids getting their fair share of the feast.

I enjoyed sharing one of our holiday traditions and would love to hear about some of yours!

Happy Holidays, everyone!