WE ALL HAVE our Christmas family traditions. Filmmakers Austin and Aaron Keeling’s families? They build intricate gingerbread houses. Very intricate gingerbread houses.
This year, they constructed a house based on the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, and it is majestic.
The whole thing is made entirely out of gingerbread, icing, fondant, sweets, and Rice Krispie mix, with windows made of melted Jolly Ranchers.
Inside, there are five actual rooms depicting scenes from the movie – from the creepy twins in the hallway:
(All the wallpaper and pictures are printed on edible paper.)
To the infamous ‘Heeeere’s Johnny!’ scene:
Not forgetting Room 237:
The ballroom scene:
And, of course, the elevator full of blood. (The blood, like the windows, was crafted from melted Jolly Ranchers.)
Keeling said that the family doesn’t eat their creations, but they do “try to destroy them in some fun way” after a few months.
They also shared some details about the construction:
We worked on and off for about two weeks. My dad does all of the design from photos. We do one nearly every year – no duplicates… It’s our Christmas ritual to have fights during the construction.
And what a Christmas ritual it is. Check out some of the family’s other gingerbread designs here.
