Herald * lantern 16 December 81

Made with Love for a Cause

bv IJbby Drrap Korrenl The pink-cheeked brownhaired child wearing a green & white turtle neck ski sweater and woolen cap sits with his noppy eared dog beside him on the porch steps of a Cape May .Kingerbredd house The

■ beige, and brown house isV^

decorated for Christmas with a wreath on the front door and garlands of greens festooning its frame It scents the air with . the aroma of fresh ground nutmeg, also ginger’ and other pungent spices -* and come Christmas eve. the. child and the dog and the gingerbread house can all be gobbled up. or exhibited. according to the , whims of whoever is awarded this enchanting edible currently on display at the Whale s Tale gift shop in the Cape May Mall POTATIONS ARK being accented at the shop

mil

the Animal

_ and the winner of the gingerbread

benefiting the Welfare#Society

house will have to make the uncomfortable choice of whether to eat the children and the dog and a cat and even Santa Claus (perchfid on the chimney) hegd first, feet (or paws) first, or whether not to eat them at all, but to give them a good home in a real home year after year. (If I wiathe house et al 1 wouldn't have the heart to eat the candy hearts decorating the roof, nor the tiny candy people and animate; or even the snowcovered peanut brittle

fences.)

The .two' fashionablydressed marzifwn children are miniature versions of real children; Travis Prit chard. 16 months, of West Cape May; and John Bell. 4. whose mother Tina, a New York free-lance food 'stylist, designed the gingerbread giingcrbrcodhouse based on* the December cover Of Pqrcnts Magazine. But it Is a highly personalized.interpretation which even includes Mealball, the Pritchard's terrier beagle, who sits with John, also in marzipan, on the front steps.

THE BROWN CAT wearing a bright red bow on his neck who lies on the peanut butter fence is. imaginary, but based on little Travis’s love of cats The curlyhaired blond marzipan Travis is building a snowman in the side yard of the gingerbread Jwuse, a dream of Travis’s for this winter's first snowfall. While the gingerbread house does not actually exist in Cape May, it incor porates a number of architectural features (including the gingerbread fretwork) found on many Victorian houses, such as dormer windows, handcut shingles, a turret, sloping roofs, and porch columns. Even , the current resurgence pf using several exterior colors was employed by Tina Bell and Hillary Pritchard, partner of the Whale’s Tale, while constructing the gingerbread house during a

weekend project.

ACCORDING TO Mrs Pritchard, the women decided to build the house for the enjoyment of their children while Mrs. Bell was visiting the Pritchard home during the Thanksgiving holidaV Assembly took an entire evening, from 5 until midnight, and decorations was completed during fi,ve hours additional work the following day‘.The cake, batter is a gingerbread dough whi£h was spread in pans and baked, and .the decorations were made wfth marzipan paste, confectioners sugur and several Kinds of candy. The detailing-such as the children's rosy cheeks, the design on the ski sweater, the eyes and Santa Claus's grin—were hand, painted with a fine brush dipped in food colors.. - Tiny non pareils were used to make the eyes, and the pupils were painted atop by Mrs. Bell. The three little people are at ' tired in snug clothing, including mitten^, boots and ski pants. Santa sports a long, pbinty wbjte beard, bushy eye.brows and a

whimsical smile.

SANTA’S JOLLY demeanor is even translated . to his hands, which include a thumbs up gesture, as he prepares to slide down the . chimney. -AccotUibg to

And mi

YOU CAN’T IOSE tvfn If you don't win. Donation! bonotltUng Animal Wolfaro are being accepted at the Whale'! Tale, and one o( the lockj-donori will win Ihbi unique gingerbread boose, complete with marelpan family (Including Santa on

the roof).

wtfhpalms up in a f

of greeting.

While nearly all of the house and little people can be.eaten, some of the snow is made of a plastic substance, and the yellow stained glass enclosing the vari-shaped windows of the

vmiiiiiicj. -raw,,.-.—— house, are made of Mi^' PritchardMrsJ°Bell /^cellophane. But the porch likes to mold the tiny hands columns are made of red

and white canes, and the chimney ornamentation includes red, green and white

gumdrops.

Thpre are five perfectly shaped, Christmas trees,

house could be used to raise funds ior homeless pets and other services the Society provides. A donations jar has been placed alongside the gingerbread

gingerbread Mfcte.

WHILE THB marzipan dog and cat afl obviously well cared for (both animals are smiling). there arc many homeless pets who are available for adoption through the Animal Welfare Society by

telephoning 465-4563.

Mrs. Pritchard is

chard suggests th* winner of the house try varnishing it to help ward off the

ravages of time.

As for the little marzipan people; they looked to this writer\ like a moment frozen in a parent’s imagination. Unlike real children' who tend to outgrow their Christmas clothes, it's possible next

year that marzipan John and marzipan Travis may still be attired in their same ski sweaters enjoying play at their snow-covered miniature gingerbread gingerbread house inside a real Cape May gingerbread

house.

Libby Demp Forrest is a feature writer from Cape

May.

O 11 tt , V> 111 I I 11 I C* > ' » a

surrounding the house find^ assembling a poster about shrubbeW by the front the work of the Animal

Welfare Society so that people .who view the gingerbreatf house will be able to learn about the work of the rescue

organization.

While the gingerbread gingerbread house is mostly imaginary. Mrs. Pritchard said during future Christmases, she and Mrs. Bell would like to recreate actual Cape May homes, such as the Physick Mansion and display them as

fundraisers.

THE WOMEN ARE

MEET MARZIPAN John and hi* dog. on the front *t*p* of the gingerbread house. They’re miniature versions of the real thing.

ibbcry

steps, also made of green icing. J MRS. PRITCHARD and Mrs. Bell were college friends who get together several times a year in Cape May. Christmastime a year ago. the women baketrthe decorated gingerbread cookies depicting Whale s Tale employees and their children which were strung on a line in the shop's windows. But this year the women found their gingerbread house did not seem suitable in a window so they carried it into the shop and placed it on a counter nearby the front

door

They contacted the Animal Welfare Society of Cape May County and inquired if their gingerbread

uncertain Mv long the gingerbread ^jingerbread will last because of changing weather conditions The black strap molasse* used to cover part of the house might possibly separate, so Mrs. Prit-

SWEET SANTA, made of sugar and eggwhltes too, about to descend a candled chimney on a rooftop ringed with noo-parells. S