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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza All dressed up and ready to go, the Hopkins sisters Abbie, 2, and Olivia, 4, had some fantastic gingerbread houses to take back to Easton with them following the holiday activities at the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center on Dec. 6. With a moment of down time while they waited for their car with their mom, the two sisters had a chance to check out each other’s gingerbread adornments. |
By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The holiday season was ushered in with unprecedented enthusiasm on Dec. 6 with a Snowman Parade, gingerbread house and cookie decorating session, and a visit from Santa.
Turnout for the festivities seemed to be up this year — at least from the perspective of Barb Aiken, who organized the gingerbread house decorating in the gymnasium of the rec center.
“These are the least houses I’ve had left, so people responded well,” Aiken said at the end of the evening, gesturing to three or four remaining un-decorated gingerbread creations from the 214 at the event’s beginning. “People who said they were going to come did, and the response was tremendous.”
Aside from the new Snowman parade this year and not taking into consideration the effort it took to organize the Santa’s Workshop festivities — it took almost 40 hours of volunteer work to assemble and distribute the gingerbread houses alone.
The gingerbread for the prefab houses was baked this year by Farm’s Bakery and Coffee Shop, and once the pieces had cooled, it took 75 pounds of icing sugar and 25 pounds of frosting to assemble the cookie structures and provide young decorators with a dish of frosting.
The young gingerbread artisans this year had extra decorative elements to work with this year, with supplies for the houses donated by Sleeper’s Market.
“We were able to provide them with sprinkles this year, which they didn’t have in years past, and we had a special sugar candy for them — just one in each dish that they hadn’t had in the past,” Aiken said.
From a blank palette of gingerbread, youths implored their creativity to make confectionary marvels as unique as winter snowflakes — some coating the exterior with a thick layer of frosting, others dotting the gingerbread with speckles of pretzels and gumdrops. Some youths even brought additional decorations from home in order to produce exquisite creations. Often, youths had help from their parents, grandparents and other guardians to ensure their sugary houses were just right, as groups of families hunched over tables hyper-focused on the correct placement of decorative items, like a pretzel chimney.
While organizing the Christmas events take a lot of time, effort and resources, it’s all worth it for dedicated volunteers like Aiken. “It’s all about the kids,” she said with a smile. “They make my Christmas.”
Volunteers that helped with the gingerbread houses this year included: Aiken, Gary Aiken, Tony Mazzucco, Paul and Paula Barnes, Sandra Dyer, Jean Sleeper, Joan Theriault, Roberta Walton and Frances Whitten.
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Myah Hayes, 4, of Washburn told Santa during his visit to the rec center that she wants a toy stuffed pony for Christmas. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza With her gingerbread cookie expertly decorated, Addison Gove, 4, of Caribou found a tasty way to utilize the extra frosting. Turn to page 4 and 5 for additional photos and a story. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Emily, 8, and Lauren Clayton, 3, both from Caribou, flipped through some coloring pages to find just the right one during the Santa’s Workshop event at the rec center on Dec. 6. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza 10-month-old Nathaniel Babin of Caribou didn’t seem to care much for the decorating part of the gingerbread houses — but he sure liked the icing. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Braden Bouchard, 7, of Caribou carefully placed a pretzel on top of his gingerbread house during the Dec. 6 festivities at the Caribou rec center. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza The Ouellette family, of Caribou, was very thoughtful while designing their gingerbread houses, from left, Josh holds the candy decorations for 5-year-old Colby, and Claire, 7, applies a little icing to the gingerbread. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Isaac Okulski, 5, of Caribou precisely placed a marshmallow on his gingerbread house during the Nov. 6 gingerbread decorating festivities. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza There was hardly any gingerbread left showing on this house, after Anna Belanger was finished with it. Belanger, 9, is from Caribou. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza 19-month-old Lydia Sheffield took her time choosing the right crayon for her coloring, and dad Daniel helped oversee the coloring project. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Anna Thibodeau, of Stockholm, and Maya Peterson of New Sweden concentrated on making their gingerbread houses as decoratively detailed as possible during the annual gingerbread decorating event at the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center, sponsored this year by Sleeper’s Market and Farm’s Bakery and Coffee Shop. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Making sure that marshmallow stayed put, 3-year-old Karson Adams pulled his hand away from the gingerbread house very, very slowly. |
