The "Victorian Era of Gingerbread" Story

Looking through the window from outside at night.

It was an ordinary day.  Just getting home from my second trip to the firm of Reese, Lower, Patrick and Scott (RLPS).  Their architectural offices are, at least for the next few days, right at the other end of my street.  Seems they have built a brand new building, that they naturally designed themselves, and will be relocated in it by the beginning of next year.  Now, the reason for so many trips to RLPS.  The story actually started last Tuesday.  I saw in their window one day a week ago that they had finished their annual Christmas display of gingerbread houses.  Always one of the highlights of my holiday season when I make a visit to see the display.  One of my former students, Jim M., is an architect with the firm and usually takes me through the offices to see the display.  Well, last Tuesday I called the office to see if I could make some arrangements with him for the viewing.  Happened not to be in the office, but I left a message for him.  I really wanted to visit the next day and take some photos and talk to him about the display which this year is titled "Jolly Olde London Towne."  No call on Tuesday afternoon, or Wednesday, so when Thursday rolled around and I found out that this was their final public viewing of the display, I asked my wife, Carol, if she wanted to go with me in the evening to see the display.  Times for viewing the display were 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.  I chose closer to the 7:00 PM time, figuring that most everyone from the neighborhood would be out of the place by then.  Boy, was I mistaken.  We arrived at 6:20 PM and were greeted with a slight drizzle in the air as well as a line that reached their parking lot.  Holy S*#t!  "I sure hope the line goes fast," I said to Carol.  Well, it didn't.  By a quarter to seven we had reached the front door.  The line went back and forth a few times in the lobby, then ran the entire length of the building to their meeting room and back through the lobby to the hall leading into the display area.  By 7:30 we were in the meeting room and my cell phone rang. I happened to be talking to someone behind me in line so I handed my cell to Carol.  After a short phone conversation she handed me the phone and said it was Jim M. telling me I could come in the next day after 2:00 PM and he would show me the display.  I looked at her and asked,"Do you want to leave and come back tomorrow?" Her reply - "We've been waiting over an hour already, we may as well just wait and see it now."  That 'now' turned out to be 8:15 PM when we actually saw the first of the gingerbread houses.  And ..... were they spectacular!  This is the 23rd year for the RLPS Christmas display and it seems that every year they outdo themselves.  This year 21 of the employees of the firm constructed houses while 11 more made accessories to go with the display.  I did mention that it is a gingerbread display, but not all houses are necessarily made with gingerbread.  A few were made with graham crackers, a few with chewing gum, and few with other types of candy and so on.  The display, which was about 12-15 feet square was started the day after Thanksgiving and was ready for judging on December 5th.  No daytime work hours were allowed so the employees had to come in evenings and weekends to finish the display.  On December 5th RLPS clients viewed the display and voted for their favorite building and favorite accessory.  They were allowed to vote for three of each and the winners, as well as some of my favorites, are displayed below.  Oh, I should tell you that I did try to take photos on Thursday evening with little success, since everyone was pointing and quite a few of my photos had fingers and arms in them as well as flashes going off at the exact instant I was pushing my shutter release.  I went back the next day and visited with Jim as well as took more photos of the display.  After seeing the results, I'm sure you will be as impressed as I was.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Jim reported to me that over 500 people visited the night before.

Daytime photo of building called "Smoke'N Nannies" which took 1st place 

My night photo showing "Smoke'N Nannies" on the left of photo.

2nd place went to "Pretzel's Pub.

Evening shot of "Pretzel's Pub."

3rd place went to "Norfolk Biffins Bakery" which was made from chewing gum and icing.

"Norfolk Biffins Bakery" shot in the evening.

Best Accessory was "Merry Poppins."

2nd place was titled "Bunny Invasion" showing all the bunny rabbits.

And, the 3rd place went to the small pond with boats titled "Ho Ho Ho Your Boat!"

Notice the entrance to the small park with the "RLPS" sign.

Notice the streets which are dark gray icing with the black beans pushed into it.