The tradition of making or buying gingerbread houses during Christmas is quite famous in many countries. However, what was supposed to be a Christmas experience turned out quite Halloween-esque for an Australian woman, when she discovered a giant spider inside her gingerbread house.
Sharing her ordeal on Facebook, Katie Gompertz, an Australian resident, said that she had placed an order for gingerbread house from an online department store called Woolworths. However, upon receiving her order, Katie discovered a giant spider inside the box.
Posting the pictures of the box online, Katie wrote, “Only in Australia, only in #2020 Buy a ready-made gingerbread house they said, it’ll be easier than building one they said!” Katie revealed that she was quite frustrated after discovering the creature. She even went on to question the online department store why she had to receive such a horrific Christmas gingerbread house that now felt more like a Halloween decoration.
The post has received 694 reactions so far and has been shared over 1.5k times on the social media platform. Katie’s friends and followers were equally terrified. One of the users commented, “Are you friggin SERIOUS? IT’S INSIDE???” Replying to this comment, Katie said, “yeah it has an egg sack!”
The egg sack detail enhanced the horror of Katie’s friends, while some turned to some humour for easing and calming the situation. A user said, “she has an egg sac as well. You're going to be a grandma Katie Gompertz.” Another friend said, “It truly is the gift that keeps on giving!”
“Home ownership is tough y'all. She just wants somewhere to raise her babies,” said another friend of Katie’s. A mortified user commented, “Omfg!!! Complete with egg sack so it's been in there a long while!!! Who the hell packed that order?!?”
It seems after the post went quite viral in the country that the Woolworth's department store felt obliged to deliver a new clean package of gingerbread. In the comments section of the post, Katie posted the picture of the new gingerbread house that was delivered to her later by a “slightly terrified local manager”.
Posting the picture, Katie commented, “Thanks Woolworths for the replacement and slightly terrified local manager who dropped it off.”
The tradition of having gingerbread during Christmas dates back to Medieval England, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The term gingerbread pretty much means "preserved ginger”. It is considered that having ginger is quite relaxing after one has had a heavy Christmas dinner. The tradition of gingerbread house seems to be inspired by Germany, where the folk tale of Hansel and Gretel is quite famous.