Mila Harju, the HR manager at the Western Academy of Beijing, is better-known to the local community as the queen of Christmas gingerbread. She's been making the holiday sweet for a decade, generating more than 5,000 yuan ($780) this year for charity causes that improve living conditions for rural women and girls in China. Mike Peters catches up with the baking maven for the full story.

How many years have you been doing these gingerbread houses?

This is my 10th year to contribute to the Finnish Community Table in the WAB Charity Bazaar. The project landed in my hands 10 years ago when the person previously handling it moved away from Beijing. She used to make 10 houses with the help of her ayi (nanny), and at that time, I couldn't understand how it was possible to make so many.