Weekend Coffee Share Announcements
Greetings! I have three announcements to make before sharing a fun walk.
- There will be a Weekend Coffee Share link-up on December 22 and December 29. I know it is usually quiet in the blog world in the last two weeks of the year. I am available to host. I hope to see you then.
- In the new year, the Weekend Coffee Share link-up starts on January 5 and continues weekly as usual, except January 26. The Weekend Coffee Share badge stays the same. See my blog sidebar for the badge. I will repeat this announcement in January.
- Most Weekend Coffee Share participants take time to read and comment on my post and other linked up posts. Unfortunately, there are a few bloggers who link and run. When they link and run again the second time, their links will be removed without notice.
Let’s use our time wisely. Link up when you have a few minutes to read and type a sincere comment. Details on how to join the Weekend Coffee Share link-up is on my blog menu bar and in the weekly Inlinkz dashboard.
The Gingerbread Way
Last week my friend and I visited the Gingerbread Way at Toronto’s historic and luxury Fairmont Royal York hotel. Upon arrival, we admired the gorgeous Christmas tree. It stands tall in the lobby, circled by a decorative crown. Many smaller trees, family of deer and festive decorative items are placed along the hallways.
Similar to last year, Chef Andrew Wilson and his team constructed a laneway lined with over 8500 freshly baked gingerbread bricks, real icing and twelve kinds of candy. The floor-to-ceiling bricks are glued together using royal icing. This year’s displays include:
The hand-made gingerbread displays are incredible and beautiful. We oohed and aahed while looking at the details of each display from top to bottom, including the crown and RY (Royal York initials) made of royal icing. Here are a few close-up photos. Click on any image to see its bigger version.
It was a fun outing. I love everything about the Gingerbread Way. I hope to see it again next year.
This post is my entry to Dan’s Thursday Doors photo challenge, Terri’s Sunday Stills December Red and Green colour challenge and Min’s WWWhimsy link-up.
I’d love for you to share your holiday fun and/ or photos of public art around the world in the Comments or Weekend Coffee Share link-up #144 below.
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Natalie the Explorer 
What wonderful scenes, Natalie. I love those bears! Thanks for joining us at Thursday Doors.
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Dan, I’m glad you like the gingerbread scenes. The bears are adorable. Have a great week!
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Thos are some wonderful Christmas decorations! I especially like the windows and the little elf. Thanks for looking after the Weekend coffee share link-up, I hope to get back to it next year. This year has been very overwhelming and miserable, and I’ve just barely kept up with my fitness update posts on Sundays. But I miss the Weekend coffee share.
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Susanne, I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a hard year. You are missed at the weekly WCS link-up. I hope you’ll be able to join in from time to time in the new year. Thank you for stopping by. Have a great weekend!
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Beautiful and very charming
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Sheryl, I’m glad you liked the Gingerbread Way. Thank you for stopping by.
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I like those festive windows. There is something about storefront windows all done up like that, it just gives a happy vibe.
Natalie, a few coffee shares ago we talked about the colours of the fall trees in Ontario. I finally created a post with pictures from the local lookout tower and I thought I would share the link with you and the group here. It isn’t my coffee share post though: https://aocottagerentals.wordpress.com/category/activities/
Happy Friday.
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Shari, The festive decorations bring joy and make December special. You captured some beautiful Fall colours by your cottage. Have a great weekend!
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That is a great way to word it, Natalie. It is so true.
Thanks for taking a few minutes to check out that link. I’m glad you enjoyed the colours.
Happy Saturday.
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That display is amazing!! The hours that it must take to bake and create it must be a huge number, not to mention a significant cost! Their work is so meticulous. Thanks for sharing it, great way to fit all 3 themes!
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You’re welcome, Bernie. The Gingerbread Way is one of the highlights of the holiday season for me and I love sharing it. Have a great weekend!
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What an amazing display! Gosh…I can see why you love to go.
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The baking and decorating efforts that go into creating the Gingerbread Way are incredible. I’m glad you like the displays.
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The gingerbread houses are fabulous, Natalie! So much detail in them.
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Agreed, Jo. This is the second year the hotel chef and his team create the Gingerbread Way. I love it.
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Oh wow; that is an amazing display! I can only imagine all the work that went into it.
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The baking and decorating must have taken hours. The team who created the Gingerbread Way did an exceptional job.
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Beautiful pictures. Going to share with my brother who is Toronto!
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I’m glad you like my pictures and share.
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What a fun and Christmassy thing to do.
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Yes, the Gingerbread Way is a delightful holiday experience.
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Hi Natalie, your pictures are so festive, it’s almost like being there. I’m so glad you are going to keep hosting through the holidays. It leaves a hole when you are gone. I look forward to connecting with people through your post. I don’t usually get to everyone, but I think it’s important to visit several, so I miss that when you are gone. I have been fortunate to have several of them return the favor, which is what makes a great community. Strong communities is what builds the blogging world and yours extends outside of WordPress which didn’t used to happen. Thanks for continuing to host, not only WCS but also PPAC.
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Hi Marsha, I’m so glad to hear several Coffee Sharers reciprocate your visits. I agree with you that’s what makes a great blogging community. I enjoy hosting except when I travel abroad. Thank you for being an active participant in the WCS link-up.
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You’re welcome and thanks for hosting!
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My pleasure, Marsha. I’ll be doing my round of reading and commenting on linked up blogs this weekend. Have a good evening!
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You too, Natalie.
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It would have been quite the sight to see them build it. I wonder how long the smell lasts? There’s a hotel we stay in that builds a giant house in the foyer but by the time we get there, the ginderbread doesn’t smell at all….which is disappointing for me!
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I have no idea how long the smell lasts. I just love how the Gingerbread Way was constructed, with floor-to-ceiling details.
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Such a cool street… it must be fun walking there.
Here is my entry for PPAC – https://wanderingteresa.com/albania-through-tims-lens/
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It was fun walking the Gingerbread Way. Thank you Teresa for your PPAC entry that let me see some of the public art in Albania.
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It’s my pleasure to share what my son sent me.
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Wow, such pretty, festive decor, Natalie! How fun to walk through the street and getting into the holiday spirit! I’ll add your post when mine goes live on Sunday.
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Thank you, Terri. I’ll do ping back once your post goes live. It was fun to walk the Gingerbread Way and look to see what’s behind each window.
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These are amazing creations Natalie, how wonderful to see them in real life but your photos show us s snippet of their awesomeness. Thank you for sharing with us and for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare. Your reminders are very clear and I would hope most bloggers follow these simple ‘rules’.
I’m wondering what happens afterwards to all the gingerbread bricks etc?
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Hi Debbie, I love sharing the Gingerbread Way on my blog. I can only imagine the work efforts to bake, glue with royal icing, decorate and construct this laneway. Toronto has an organic recycling program and the Royal York hotel has their own garden so my guess is that the gingerbread bricks go to the organic compost bin after the holidays.
Thank you for linking up and commenting. Most of the WCS bloggers are caring people who visit and comment on linked up blogs to strengthen the blogging community. I hope the few bloggers who link and run get my message.
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Natalie this Christmas display is amazing. I have been sitting looking at it and can’t take my eyes away. I’m so pleased you shared them. I’m also pleased that #weekendcoffeeshare will be open on 22 and 29 December. We are having a very quiet Christmas at home this year so I will be around to join in. Thank you so much for all the time you put in to make this link up possible.
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Jennifer, I kept looking at the roofs, the walls, the trimmings around the windows – all made with gingerbread and glued together by real royal icing. I’m happy to hear you’ll be around to join in the next two weekends. I love reading your book reviews and news. Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!
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I’ll try the inlinkz thing but I have had no luck in other times I tried. Here my PACC contribution just in case
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Brian, Thank you for your PPAC contribution that let me see some fantastic public art in Australia. I see your link in the InLinkz dashboard (yay, it worked!). Have a great weekend!
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Thanks Natalie, this time inlinkz worked. Last time at Marsha’s it was a pain
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The Gingerbread Way looks delicious, I mean looks very cool! I’m sure it was fun exploring it and seeing all of the little details.
Thanks for all of your hard work hosting this! And thanks for having it through the holidays. I do try to post every week I am not traveling, linkup or not, so it’s great that there will be a linkup 🙂
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I resisted the temptation to touch the gingerbread even though I got really close to them 🙂 I’m glad to hear you’ll be around to join the linkup through the holidays. I’ll take a short blogging break at the end of January. Have a great weekend!
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Wow, that’s an impressive display and real labour of love! Does anyone get to eat the gingerbread after the scenes are dismantled? It’s a while since I had much street art to share, but there’s some in this post and i thought you’d enjoy the market too: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/another-side-to-madagascar/
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Sarah, I’m not sure anyone wants to eat these gingerbread since they are on display in a public space and who knows if any young admirers may have touched them 🙂 My guess is that the gingerbread all go into an organic compost bin. Toronto has an organic recycling program and the hotel has their own garden.
Thank you for sharing your photos of public art and the market in Madagascar. I enjoyed seeing the country through your lens.
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Ah yes, that makes sense of course 🙂
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I’m awestruck by theses masterful gingerbread houses and characters. Wow!
I just put a very simple gingerbread house together (30 min ago,) and as I am writing this I am very much aware of blisters on two of my fingers after forgetting how incredibly hot melted sugar gets…(that I used to put the pieces together.) My daughter is going to decorate the gingerbread house later tonight. I’m excited to see what she comes up with. She is usually getting very creative. For a couple years I’ve been purchasing ready made gingerbread-house sets at the store, but this year I did everything myself (the dough, the design, and all the pieces.) It’s fun to get into the holiday spirit. I wish I could visit the Gingerbread way, it would be very cool to see in person. Thank you for a fun coffee share!
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Hi Maria, My reaction when I saw the Gingerbread Way was also Wow and I’ve seen it two years in a row. I’m impressed that you made a gingerbread house from scratch. I look forward to seeing how your daughter decorates it. Gingerbread houses are a charming aspect of the holiday season. I love looking at them. Have a fun weekend!
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I do remember another post that you made previously about the Gingerbread Way 🙂
My daughter haven’t gotten around to decorating the house yet, but I promise to share pictures of it when it is done. Have a great rest of your weekend!
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Thank you Maria. Enjoy Sunday and have a great week ahead. I left a comment on your blog but did not see it. Please check your spam folder in case it landed there.
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Oh, I’m happy to see the Gingerbread back, I will check it out this week!
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Yes, go and enjoy. I was glad that the Gingerbread Way returned this year.
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Hi, Natalie – You explore the coolest place. Gingerbread Way sounds awesome. I am glad that it returned again this year.
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Thank you Donna for your compliment. The Gingerbread Way made me smile and I wanted to share some holiday joy. Have a wonderful weekend!
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The lights look amazing, and a great name of a fun place to visit
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I enjoyed visiting the Gingerbread Way. The storefronts are all decorated with real gingerbread glued together by royal icing.
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Amazing that they go to that much effort
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I greatly appreciated that they did and the display definitely adds joy to December.
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It does look like they go all out for Christmas.
Impressive.
I can hear their Christmas music in the backgroud.
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The Gingerbread Way enhances the festive atmosphere of the holiday season.
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Wow, that is so very beautiful and cool. Love it. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
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Patrick, I’m glad you like the Gingerbread Way. Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week ahead!
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An amazing Christmas display that I would love to look at. That’s a lot of gingerbread.
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I first saw it last year and was glad to see it again this year.
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It looks like it would be easy to get into the Christmas spirit in Toronto. Have a great week to come, Natalie!
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Thank you Pamela. I love how festive the city looks and feels in December.
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You had me at the title! Then came the pics. This is fantasy land stuff for me. Re your linkers and runners – we have a few of those on out linkys too… #notgoodbloggingmanners
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Jo, The Gingerbread Way is fantasy land for me, too. It made me feel like a kid again. I decided to delete the linkers and runners from my link-up without reading their blogs. I’d rather spend that reading time with bloggers who are interested in a dialogue.
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Good call.
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the gingerbread way sounds absolutely amazing. so much work! how many litres of icing must they make? :=)
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Sherry, I have no idea how many litres of icing they must make. The results are incredible to see IRL.
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How magical Natalie! We were recently in Europe and the Christmas decorations were starting to appear. In the freezing cold weather the decorations and lights looked lovely – a little different to our hot and humid Christmases we have here in Australia. #WWWhimsey
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Hi Sue, I was at a Christmas Market today and enjoyed browsing the vendors’ stalls and many lovely decorations. It’s a cold and sunny day here. Thank you for stopping by. I hope to see you again at the linky next week.
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Hi Natalie, wow – what gorgeous Christmas scenes and I love the term ‘the gingerbread way’. It all transports me to that very *Christmassy* feeling which is fabulous and takes me back to being a child. As for linkers and runners – I have had only one so far and gave a warning after two times linking and running. I just don’t understand – blogging is about connecting with others and I don’t like bad bloggy manners. Thank you for linking up with #WWWhimsy – hopefully I’ll see you again next week for the final one for 2023. If I could blog more than once a week (just can’t at the moment) I’d be linking up with your linky too Natalie! xo
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Hi Min, The Gingerbread Way is delightful. I felt like a kid again when I was there. As to link and run bloggers, I decided to delete their links from my link-up without reading their blogs. I’d rather spend that reading time with bloggers who are interested in a dialogue. I’ve been blogging once a week for about three years now. That’s all I can manage on the blog as my life is full. I’ll see you next week before your blogging break. Have a great week!
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Natalie, I would LOVE to visit the Gingerbread Way with my grandchildren. It is just lovely. Then, I would like to come back and visit the Elfster Bar ;-). Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend. Joe
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Joe, That’s a brilliant plan 🙂 Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!
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I always love that gingerbread walk. So cool!!! Thanks for the updates for the new year. Looking forward to a new year!
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Kirstin, Those gingerbread displays are attractive. I hope to see you at the WCS link-up through the holidays. If not, have a merry Christmas with your loved ones.
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