Mudboy Slim: I'm giving you 3 posts with hyperlinks. I'll post the contestants separately, in 3 sets for the 100, 300, and 300 series of posts. I give you my comments on each and tag about half in each of the 3 sets as finalists.
In the 100 series I select 4 finalists for the following silly reasons:
35 (Aquamarine), 44 (xJones), 99 (Sweetliberty), and Flyer's threads throughout:
Post 35 Aquamarine set the bar high. I love the music on the link, too. What do you think? This is a lovely, colorful, prosaic house. I think this is a finalist. Note at post 47 she claims to have written the song, also. :)
Post 41 Lodwick's montage. A whole village. With a lovely Santa saying "ho, ho, ho" too. There's a commercial imprint graphic atop the picture and the fact that there's so many houses means, necessarily, we don't get a good view of any one. It's really lovely though. Hmm, I dunno, but the commercial imprint makes me certain this one's not gonna win. It was a great contribution, but can't tap it for finalist.
Post 44 xJones has Santa on the chimney, a ladder on the tree, and a pretzel fence all about the yard. A lovely bay window and of course a porch with the missuz waiting for the man in the yard. I think this is a finalist too. Especially after referring to us in post 50 as wise and benevolent for giving "points" for spelling errors. (1) I didn't notice any spelling errors, they're giving us way too much credit! (2) this post probably was the beginning of the thread-long misconception that you or I were clever enough to use a point system! :D
Post 65Kayak's embroidered Christmas picture, with Old English bright red lettering of "Merry Christmas" thoughtfully added. Gingerbread people in the yard. Now I'm a crafter, I'm a quilter, I just LOVE this one. It *has* to be a finalist, I'm thinking, but then I realize that's just the crafter in me. It's not very edible-looking, and it doesn't have other features to redeem the fairly poor picture quality. So, wow, even the non finalists are so good, but I guess I'd say this is a non-finalist. (Which kills me 'cause Kayak I love your posts on Free Republic -- you're always so right!)
Post 78 Deadhead's drawing of a gingerbread house. The perspective for the painting is that of a gingerbread person approaching the house. It's artful, edible, and has a lovely yellow gumdrop walkway. Major points for art appreciation here. We don't get to see the whole house, though, and it doesn't make me hungry. It would be a finalist in a pure art competition.
Post 99 Sweetliberty's *real* house that she did last year. With a barn and silo, it looks like, and a lot of landscaping with gingerbread stones. All the different buildings. And look! In the first of the 2 photos you can see the American flag flying on the house. She made this for her niece and nephew. Mudboy, this is a patriotic one! I really like it. "Well, it doesn't look as pretty as some of the pictures off the web, but I DID make it." This is what the holidays are about. This one says "love" to me. I even like the clumsy background effort to spruce it up with a tree and a snowflake!
An entry that spans the thread and has to be a finalist too:
Flyer's schtick. Here I document the highlights of the missing gingerbread schtick through the 100 series: 17 (dog ate his homework),
46 ("My icicles were twice as big and I had twice as many. You'll have to take my word on that"),
51 (insisting it's all the truth, and "You shoulda seen it. . . it must have been at least 30 feet tall."),
56 (asserting, in response to Pippin's suggesting that the "snow" is "getting deep:" "My Gingerbread House also had a train going around it and little animated people walking along the sidewalk. Really."),
83 ("It was about 30 feet tall, train running around it, animated figures on the sidewalk, artificial snow falling, a tiny computer logged on to FR. . . man, it was beautiful."),
