By Subadhra R. Sriram

“Santa’s Train” by Owen Noga and Claire Chun is one of many colorful and imaginative contributions in this year’s gingerbread house exhibit.

Los Altos gingerbread creations will be on display at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose through Christmas. The edible works of art had been on view in the Los Altos Community Center, Dec. 8-12.

The gingerbread project dates back to 1987 when the idea first baked in Los Altos. A community volunteer took the recreation director to Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo to view the gingerbread display. They liked what they saw and decided to do the same thing in Los Altos, said Marie Backs, a recreation department office assistant.

“It’s just an opportunity for families to show off their creative talents and have fun,” said Peggy Ford, Los Altos Recreation Department supervisor, whose office sponsored the event. It’s not a contest, and one of the few rules is - use only edible items.

The current gingerbread exhibits stray far from the traditional house. A circus, a candy train, a barn and horses, an aircraft carrier - even a Rockefeller Center - were showcased.

“It’s our eighth year of gingerbread-making,” said 12-year-old Zachary Darrah, proud owner of the 18-inch-tall Rockefeller Center.

“We like thinking of different ideas and doing it,” added his 8-year-old brother, Joshua.

“It’s a very American thing,” said Fran Swallow, who is from England. “It’s so symbolic of the holiday time here. We just embraced it.” And to evoke memories of home, their gingerbread exhibit was an English townhouse with a banana chip roof.

Gail Matthews’ family lived in this area and got together every year to bake a gingerbread house. This year, since her family has moved away, Matthews brought their memory closer by building an aircraft carrier - her father is a Navy pilot.

In addition to being a traditional holiday event, it’s a great way to relax according to Nancy Kaszubinski. “You are gluing candy on with frosting. How stressful can that be?” said Kaszubinski, who does this project yearly with her daughter, Katy. They went through a lot of candy before their two gingerbread houses, “Sugar Shack” and “Victorian Sweet,” were ready.

Candy of all shapes, sizes and colors are used in the gingerbread exhibits. Besides the usual items, cookies, candy canes, inverted ice-cream cones covered with green frosting, crackers and cereal, there were the more unusual ingredients: flour tortillas, Bazooka gum and banana chips.

“I went through a 5-pound bag of flour,” exclaimed Claire Chun, who created “Santa’s Train” with her little son.

“We give out a gingerbread recipe,” Ford said. But many use their own special recipes and others with ready-made kits.

“I got a kit,” said 10-year-old Sarah Breslin, creator of the “Candy Train. It was prebaked and had an icing recipe, too.”