A Texas woman has transformed her home into a life-size gingerbread house for the holiday season, keeping up with an annual tradition she started three Christmases ago.
Kyle resident Kristine Lilly started going over the top with her holiday decorations in 2020 as a way to combat the isolation she felt during the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, Lilly had to spend Christmas without her two grown children, who were stationed on military bases, and without her granddaughter.
Lilly credits her mother as the inspiration for her handmade holiday decor. She still has fond memories of the gingerbread houses her mother made for her as a child and feeling so excited when she was finally able to eat them.
She wanted to share this special holiday feeling with her community by making her house into a gingerbread house, which has become a local holiday attraction, drawing hundreds to the neighborhood.
Lilly treats visitors to a free cup of hot cocoa, and her husband, Robert Helms, also does his part, dressing up as Santa, taking photos with visitors, and handing out candy.
Along with free hot cocoa, Lilly’s homemade gingerbread cookies are available for purchase on her front porch. The recipe was passed down to her from her mother.
Lilly told TODAY that her husband needed some convincing to dress up and decorate the house so extravagantly. He was at first “dubious,” but Lily said he eventually embraced it and went all in alongside her.
This year, Lilly expanded her goals for her annual holiday project, asking visitors to contribute food items for those in need in the local community. She is accepting canned food items for donation to the Hays County Food Bank in San Marcos.
Even without all the decor, Lilly can still look at her home and see a gingerbread house. She thinks it may have something to do with the paint color, a deep warm brown, which is remarkably close to the color of gingerbread.
“It makes me wonder if this was somewhere in my subconscious when I chose the paint color,” she stated.
