Gingerbread and Magic

At the Port of Bellingham's annual gingerbread contest this year, there were several entries in honor of Whatcom Middle School depicting the huge fire that destroyed the building just a few weeks ago. I counted four Whatcom Middle Schools made of gingerbread. One as it now sits without its roof, another with fire fighters and their trucks trying to gain control of the wind-fueled blaze, and two others representing the school BEFORE the fire.

My favorite was not one of the replicas of Whatcom Middle School, however. Although they were current to our local culture and certainly very clever, the gingerbread Whatcom Museum was by far my personal favorite. Originally built as the City Hall for Bellingham, the building has housed our local museum since well before I was a child. A regular visitor to the museum since I was young, I worked there during my high school days. I love that building and know it well - both inside and out, upstairs and down. Check out these photos. First, the Museum building in gingerbread.

Then, this picture I snapped of our real museum!

That gingerbread mueum, a pretty good replica! Here are more pictures from the holiday festivities sponsored by the Port of Bellingham at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal.

Then it was off to the 10th annual John Walton Holiday Magic Show at the Mount Baker Theatre! The younger children were handed booster seats and I thought Tyson looked a little like he was heading off on a vacation as he entered the theatre. He's a good little traveler!

More pics of the Mount Baker Theatre and the magic show.

Don't let the blue skies you see in those few outdoor photos fool you, our high was 17 degrees that day and with near constant, gusty winds a rather uncomfortable wind chill was added to the air. Brrrrrrrr.