Wreath of Gratitude, Gingerbread Houses

Wreath of Gratitude

picture I took yesterday at Gingerbread Boutique hosted by Jeanine Redell

Gingerbread Houses in the Solvang Bakery window

photography Amy Albertson

Hector rolling out the roof tiles for the gingerbread houses

photography Amy Albertson

My mom creating snowflake wreathes and peace wreathes for the first time

photography Amy Albertson

2009 Limited Edition Solvang Bakery Gingerbread House

photography Amy Albertson

My mom, Susan Halme, created this beautiful Wreath of Gratitude. The leaves around say "Thank You" in languages from around the world. You can specify the which languages or let us chose for you. (Ours of course has "Kiitos" on it which means "Thank you" in Finnish) My mom can also write the names of your family on each leaf (heart, etc.) if you want it to be a "family circle of love."

For those of you who want to try to make it at home, my mom used leaf cookie cutters and baked them on French bread racks to make the leaves curl. Then they were placed on with royal icing.

They are busy at work on all the holiday Gingerbread Houses too. I hate to write about Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa gifts before we've even had Thanksgiving because I think "Giving Thanks" and having a holiday celebrating "Gratitude" is extremely important! But I know last year I wrote about the Gingerbread Houses after it was too late for you to order and they were sold out. All of the gingerbread is made by hand; each door, window, fence, and roof. They roll out giant pieces of gingerbread and use trace around cardboard forms for each individual piece. It is a three day process of baking and assembling. So please get gingerbread house orders in by Dec 6th. Almond Butterrings, Cinnamon Apple Bread and Danish Butter Cookies can be ordered until Dec. 16th.

How to order: Call my sister, Melissa Redell's, direct line: 805-218-2066

or the bakery's toll free number: 1-800-377-4253 (and ask for our manager Jeanette)

e-mail: solbakery@aol.com

www.solvangbakery.com

I'll send Thanksgiving hors d'oeuvres recipes out shortly.

"Give Thanks for Little and You will Find a Lot"