A short, sweet life

There once was a gingerbread woman named Star.

She lived in a beautiful house covered with sugarcoated gumdrops, M&Ms of all colors and a multitude of marshmallows. A beautiful green cookie wreath decorated her home for the holidays. An upside-down ice cream cone adorned with colorful, sprinkle ornaments accentuated the chocolate Teddy Graham roof.

As one might imagine, the gingerbread woman had a bedroom of decadent luxury. She slept on a bed of soft marshmallows. Each morning, she awoke to the sight of candy furniture and the sweet smell of sugary treats.

It would seem that Star could do anything she wanted to pass the time in her gingerbread dream world.

But that’s when 5-year-old Jasmine Sheed from Pelion, homebuilder extraordinaire, crushed all of the gingerbread woman’s dreams. Star is sentenced to a life of cleaning. No fun and games for the cookie woman. She must clean up the crumbs and sticky icing that were the structure of her haven.

Jasmine was one of several small children who imaginatively created a candy world during the second annual Gingerbread House Workshop, sponsored by the Pelion High School Culinary Arts Program on Dec. 15.

The Lexington 1 culinary program draws students from four high schools. With 50 participants, the program doubled last year’s attendance.

Rhonda Woods, culinary arts instructor, piloted the program in 2001. She expects to continue the holiday tradition next year.

— Lindsay Semple, lsemple@thestate.com