Gingerbread House Traditions

Caroline Kovac started a holiday tradition in the 1960s that lives on today with her family. She'd make a gingerbread house from scratch using a pattern from the Duffy-Mott Company, which she passed onto her children Carol, Fran and Paul. In 2002 Fran made one for her niece and newphew, Helen and Jack. I've made one every year since and now make smaller ones for Helen and Jack to decorate.

A big part of the Kovac tradition is smashing the house on New Year's Day. We had a holiday party last weekend and smashed the houses in grand fashion as the video below shows. You can also listen to one of the party's jam sessions if you like.

Yesterday we went to see the gingerbread houses on display at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. They were quite spectacular as you can see in this photo album.

For those interested in gingerbread house making, there's quite a bit available on the web. And for those who love architecture, the WebUrbanist has photos of some great houses, as does the site inhabitat, which features some truly wonderful modern inspired houses -- make sure you check out the detailed photos.

Maybe next year I'll venture away from the Duffy-Mott pattern and try something more involved. But then again, if it's just going to be smashed, I might not!

Paranormal Apparently Normal

I couldn't believe it when I read this article in the Geauga Times Courier about a group seeking permission to conduct paranormal investigations in a cemetery off of Mentor Road. After recovering from reading the article I decided to do a search for more about the urban legend the group was investigating and was surprised to find info on Wikipedia and also a site called Creepy Cleveland. Brace yourself, Carol. Or maybe you haunt these sites on a regular basis.