The holiday season begins early for Janet Gustafson of Flossmoor. You’re more likely to see Easter merchandise and summer gear in the store than Christmas trees and stockings and twinkling lights when she starts getting into Christmas mode each spring.
In April, she started planning out her massive, gingerbread house display that she has been creating for more than 50 years. Over the next eight months she planned and baked and assembled and decorated and constructed to create what guests got to see on Saturday, Dec. 3, for the annual Gingerbread House Tour.
For the past several years, Gustafson has opened her home for guests to come in and see the completed scene up close. The tours were free, but a spot had to be reserved online through the Village of Flossmoor.
Flossmoor Event Manager Stephanie Wright coordinates the tour with Gustafson and was introduced to it nearly two decades ago when she took a tour with her children. She calls Gustafson a “true Flossmoor gem.”
Along with her gingerbread village, Gustafson pens an elaborate poem each year with a story that is worthy of being the center of a Disney holiday film.
This year, there’s a troll that’s stolen all the clocks and calendars in an attempt to ruin Christmas so that the elves won’t be able to finish making toys on time.
The gingerbread village is also part scavenger hunt as she has items hidden within the village for guests to find. There’s also some trivia worked in, too, that she says adults enjoy.
“The tour went really well,” said Gustafson. “We had lots of people, lots of families, lots of questions, which is always nice.”
She said that depending on how much interest there is from visitors, she’ll sometimes share her recipe and give some instruction on how she makes the gingerbread panels for the houses.
“I show them a picture of a gingerbread man from the 1600s so they can see what they actually looked like then,” she said. She enjoys giving a little bit of a history lesson, as well.
“I’ll give a little history about how things used to be. I have an erector set in the village and I’ll explain a little about all the things an erector set could do,” she explained. “During World War II, a boy made a heart pump using one during wartime. One of the imagineers from Disney used his erector set to make a prototype of a ride. It’s been used in all kinds of different ways.”
What’s also remarkable about the village is that she not only bakes and assembles the houses, but makes many of the items you’ll see inside. Some have moving parts that she’s engineered, some are characters and furnishings that she’s made. Originally the little elves you see throughout the village were ones that were purchased, but when she could no longer buy them, she began making her own.
Each house is lit up so it’s a completely different experience seeing the display at night than during the day.
“In a village like this, you want it to be overwhelming. You want stuff in every corner,” said Gustafson. “That’s what makes it fun.”
Gustafson also has done private tours for church groups, girls scouts and others. She plans to take a Silver Sneakers group and some of the village board members through for a guided tour. Interested groups can contact Wright to schedule a tour.
The large undertaking is done with a little help from her son, Keith, and grandson, Jeffrey, who get under the table on the stone floor to do some of the wiring and plug everything in.
Jeffrey also created a YouTube video and still photos and includes audio of Gustafson reading this year’s poem.