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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Decorating gingerbread houses has become an annual tradition for many families. This year, Dover’s children’s librarians brought their patrons’ favorite gingerbread craft to the library to kick off the holiday season.
Since joining the Dover Town Library in November of last year, a gingerbread house event has been on Head of Children’s Services Nancy Tegeler’s radar.
Five-year-old Collette Beasley decorates her gingerbread house with candies and icing at the Dover Town Library.
Sweet-toothed children and the aroma of candy and icing filled the Community Room on December 6 at 2 p.m. as children and their caregivers spent the afternoon constructing and decorating gingerbread houses. As the children entered the room, the library staff provided them with a plate, a paper milk carton, and bags full of icing, gingerbread pieces, and candies. Before long, the gingerbread cookies were glued with icing to the sides of the milk carton and the children were digging into their treat bag for the perfect candies to decorate – and perhaps a few sweets to eat.
Four-year-old brothers Matthew and Nathan enjoy their decorated gingerbread houses that they created at the Dover Town Library.
Four-year-old Carter Verni adds some candy to his gingerbread house at the Dover Library’s decorating event.
“It’s amazing how each one is so creative,” said one of the library’s staff members, who helped keep the messiness of gingerbread house decorating under control. “We put different candy in each bag, but they just come up with the neatest ideas.” Each child seemed to approach decorating his or her gingerbread house differently. Some cut up Twizzlers and broke candy canes apart to stick onto their houses, while others kept the pieces whole. Several children decided to leave their Hershey Kisses wrapped, allowing the shiny foil wrappers to add some glam to their candy homes.
One particular gingerbread house featured a chimney made out of M&M’s and gumdrop windows. Other participants extended their decorating to the plates on which their houses sat, making their plates look like a snow-covered lawn.
The bags of cookies even included a pair of gingerbread people, which the children decorated as well. Some of the more adventurous decorators even stuck their decorated cookie on the roof of their cookie houses.
While parents joked about Nancy’s bravery for hosting such a messy event, the children’s undeniable excitement and ear-to-ear smiles made any gingerbread chaos worthwhile.
