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"I found a huge gingerbread house in the lobby of Aria that Mathieu Lavallee, the resort’s executive pastry chef, and his team spent more than three weeks building and baking; it spans 15 feet tall, seven feet wide, and 12 feet deep and resembles a bakery decked with stunning three-tier cakes and treats on display, plus a chimney made of colorful gingerbread stones with cotton candy smoke. The structure uses more than 400 pounds of gingerbread, 64,000 peppermints, 200 pounds of royal icing, 80 pounds of chocolate, and more than 1,000 pounds of candy; nine hundred gingerbread bricks make up the walls and the roof is layered with 960 peppermint tiles. Colorful sugar bears adorn the front and back walls, graham cracker tiles line the entrance, large gumdrops made of white chocolate top the roof, and a five-foot-tall gingerbread man made of dough, royal icing, and fondant stands at the front weighing 120 pounds. Aside from being an obvious photo opportunity, the house is on display now through January 6." - Susan Stapleton