Gingerbread Village

     Christmas is a time for many things.  Some of these things you only see during the Christmas holiday period.  Cookies shaped like Christmas trees seem to be everywhere and to a much lesser extent you run across displays of ginger bread villages.  In Austin we a lucky to have a huge gingerbread village display every year at the Four Seasons Hotel.  The village is open to the public free of charge  for about a month during the Christmas holiday period.  I always visit the display at least once and sometimes several times
     This years village took 100 pounds of gingerbread, 100 pounds of powered sugar and 100 hours for chefs  to create it.  Sometimes the village is more whimsical than realistic but it's always entertaining and a show stopper.  The research and crafting begin long before the village is presented to the public.  I know you want to know, yes it's all edible