Gingerbread House Decorating Alert!

If you need a sign that the holiday season is upon us, here’s one word: gingerbread.

The Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce has developed “what promises to be a fun, annual, holiday event!” It’s a “gingerbread decorating house contest.” (Or, more grammatically, a gingerbread house decorating contest.)

Visit the Chamber office (215 Main Street) Monday or Tuesday (November 19-20). You’ll be given a name and location of your “business host.”

You’ll have a week to decorate the house. (This being Thanksgiving week, it’s either a terrible time, or a way to keep kids busily occupied.)

Completed houses should be delivered to “the designated business/merchant” by Sunday, November 25. There will be a jar for votes — with ballots cast by pennies.

Then, you collect your house by Monday, December 10. You bring it to the Westport Library for the Chamber’s Holiday House party on Thursday, December 13 (4:30 to 6 p.m.). One winner from each of 3 categories — Youth/Family, Adult and Professional — will be announced.

A portion of the funds raised benefit Staples Tuition Grants and Toys for Tots. (Did I mention there are entry fees? $75 for Professional category; $50 for Adult; $25 for Youth/Family.)

Sounds complicated, I know.

But win or lose, you support Westport business and 2 great organizations.

Plus, win or lose, you’ll end up with a wonderful doorstop.