Santa Clause Came to Town…Drawn by Ginger

Just because December 25^th is a normal work day here in Ethiopia (they celebrate Christmas on Jan 7^th), doesn’t mean that we foreigners can’t import our own holiday traditions during this special time. Case in point, yesterday, we were invited to our co-worker’s house for their annual Gingerbread House Competition. The party was small because it was by special invitation only, allowing the hosts to really go all out in providing building materials. If it was by invitation only, how did we get on the list? Well, each year the host family gets a new judge for the competition. Plus, they own a cello and they were looking for someone to play Christmas Carols during the building time. So I (Travis) agreed to do both, while Andrea joined a building team.

Beginning at 1:30pm, each of the four teams was given their initial building materials: two zip lock bags of home-made icing and about 20-30 pieces of gingerbread baked in different shapes and sizes (rectangles, triangles, circles, hearts, etc.). After a short time of brainstorming, blueprints were drawn up and the teams dove into their gingerbread projects. In order to make a long story shorter, I’ll give the basic schedule of what followed and then cut to finished products and judging. Teams had the next 2 hours or so to construct the skeleton of their building, after which we let the frosting harden during an excellent backyard barbeque. At 6pm, we returned to the projects, this time armed with a great variety of candies and colored icings for decoration. Like I said, our hosts did not spare expense in providing a plethora of building materials (and an occasional piece slipped in one’s mouth).

At approximately 8:00pm, I put the cello away, slipped out the back door, changed into a full-fledged Santa Clause outfit and knocked on the front door as the party’s surprise judge. It was fun playing Santa Clause (not something I am asked to do often since I lack the girth for such a privilege), but the judging itself was really hard. So instead of telling you which one I chose, I will post pictures of each one and let you comment with your votes (rank them 1-4). The criteria I was given were as follows: Structurally Sound; Originality; Good Use of Materials; Must have a Chimney (or Chimney-like means of entry) and any other criteria the judge decides upon.

THE BEAST - The first house I saw was a mosque, complete with the tall tower bearing a crescent moon and star. When I pointed out that the star was the Jewish, 6-pointed, Star or David, they wittingly said that their mosque was trying to draw together all peoples, which was represented in all the multicolored candies surrounding a flag-pole and heart flag in the front yard. Santa’s heart obviously resonated with the “unification of all people’s” description they gave. The mosque definitely had a heart theme as there were hearts all over the place, tying together all people’s in love. It had some structural issues late in the day, which were fixed last minute, but the evidence of shifting pieces was still evident in the final work (on the blue roof). This structure was the biggest, impressively using some neat angles and the frosting was done with precision. When I asked them for the title of their house, a guy from New Zealand said “we call it…the best.” Except when Kiwis/Aussies say “the best” it comes our as “the beast” so that is what I referred to it as the rest of the time.

TRAVIS TOWN - The second house was a very impressive rendering of a two story Ethiopian grass hut. Those of you at home may not appreciate how well this one was done because in the picture it looks like a mess. The house is learning a bit, the roof is crooked, the outhouse in the back is in serious disrepair. However, the team was going for authenticity, not the beauty of a sanitized Ethiopia. They have a sheep in the backyard, and a reindeer transformed into a donkey in the front. The road out front has pumpkins along the side (which is very common right now) and a small shack for a store (complete with well stocked shelves, a bag of carrots, potatoes, and pressed dried manure used for cooking fires. The black coil along the road is the underground wire that is being laid all over the country. A lot of thought went into this and although it looks like the worst craftsmanship of the bunch, one has to consider the real-life authenticity is portrays. The title given to this one was Travis Town – I think in an attempt to kiss up to the judge!

SANTA’S HOME AWAY FROM HOME - The third house was a 1950s mobile home. You know the kind that looks like a large sardine’s can turned on end - definitely earning points in the originality criteria. Complete with an awning and sun bathing chairs for myself and Mrs. Clause, this piece of work demonstrated a lot of careful planning and meticulous execution (to be expected considering the MK school art teacher was on the team!). They had one very powerful (red-nosed) reindeer pulling the mobile home and a small trailer in back for the luggage/presents. Instead of a traditional chimney (which would have conflicted with their mobile home theme, they ingeniously propped open the air vent to allow for my entry on Christmas Eve (maybe to leave presents for myself and the Mrs.). All in all, “Santa’s Home Away from Home” was an impressive piece of work – stable, clean, colorful, and highly creative.

SAVE THE CHILDREN - The last house was the log cabin in the woods theme. It was a very nicely constructed house, though what it lacked in originality, it made up for in the careful attention to detail. One can truly appreciate all the hard work on this house when they look inside. The blazing fireplace was done exceptionally well, as was the Christmas tree and presents underneath. If there was one team that nailed the minute details (even down to the candles in the windows, wreath on the door, and neatly stacked wood pile out back), this was the group. Contrast this with the Ethiopian grass hut from before and you have polar opposites, equally excellent in what they were trying to accomplish. The front of the house was nicely decorated for Christmas making it a warm and inviting cabin. The group was very quick to point out that the presents under the tree were for the children, knowing that children weighed heavily on Santa’s heart. So, when I asked for the title of the work, they confidently said “Save the Children,” which nearly moved Santa to tears while the rest of the onlookers sighed with approval.

And so, the ball was in my court to give out the grand prize trophy – the gingerbread sleigh filled with candy (see below). It was a terrible feeling to have to choose just one, knowing how hard each had worked on theirs (and knowing how seriously some participants would abuse the bragging rights that I dealt out). How would you have ranked them? Why did you choose the winner you did?