At the Guishican House Restaurant in Kelowna Thursday, Christmas Eve lunch featured crepes, but chef and proprietor Goerg Rieder had other things on his mind.
He was putting the finishing touches on a gingerbread house that grew into a gingerbread village.
"Sometimes when I start something I do get carried away a little bit," he said.
The creation took 200 pounds of gingerbread to make.
And 90 pounds of icing sugar.
The old-world style village was easy on the candies, heavy on the icing and rich in detail.
Made from a German-style honeydough, the village will stay soft and edible for months. But as pretty as it all is, Rieder hopes it gets eaten.
"Well that is what it is meant to be. They can rip it all apart and enjoy it and have a very good Christmas."
Once the village was complete, it was delivered to a special Christmas Eve dinner for the homeless in downtown Kelowna.
It was an instant hit.
"It looks good, I want to eat it," said Jeff, a dinner attendee.
The village was so big it had to be moved in two pieces and re-assembled on site.
"It's so Christmassy!" said outreach worker Veronica Cowan. "It's just the finishing touch."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat
