The holiday season festivities have begun with Beaver Area Middle School's gingerbread house competition.

Seventh and eighth graders in Design and Modeling have finished decorating their designs and displayed them on the once empty shelves to the left of entering the library.

There are five contestants, each with their own theme: 1st - Hunter’s Lodge, 2nd - Grandmother’s House, 3rd - White Winter Wonderland, 4th - Clock Tower, and 5th - the aptly named Gingerbread House.

Ms. Jennifer Cylenica, a middle school math teacher, said, “The students started [their houses] by making a 3D model of cardstock and putting it on a heavy cardboard base. No software was used. After they formed the structure, they then decorated it with completely edible materials. The project took 11 class periods to complete along with a morning in the lunchroom.”

Students and teachers can visit the library to vote on their favorite. The winner will be displayed during the holiday season, and additionally be entered into the Gingerbread house competition at the PPG building in downtown Pittsburgh.

Gingerbread house making is an enjoyable winter sculpting activity along with making snowmen, and the more intricate craft—ice sculpturing.

The neat thing about gingerbread houses is that typically you get to eat them afterward, as long as they are made completely with gingerbread and candy. It gives children the excuse of overusing icing because “the house won't stand up.”

The destruction of gingerbread houses is bittersweet because you can consume your own creation, unlike snowmen and ice sculptures. That is, if only you are sanitary and therefore don’t eat melting snowmen.

Snowmen making is a popular winter hobby, but is under the heat as temperatures are on the rise. An ideal amount of precipitation for making snowmen is four inches of wet snow. The average snowfall of Pittsburgh is about 44 inches per year, but that is going to be converted more to rain as average winter temperatures rise.

Gingerbread housemaking originated in Germany from the short story of Hansel and Gretel. From there people have even taken on the challenges of making gingerbread houses so big you can step inside them. Gingerbread houses are loved by people who love sculpting and people who love eating.

Don’t forget to vote in the library for your favorite gingerbread house!