Utah family transforms home into life-sized gingerbread house

Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A Utah home is drawing the attention of passers-by -- as well as Internet users -- after being decorated to resemble a life-sized gingerbread house.

Virginia Hoffman said she realized a few years ago that her red brick home in the Yalecrest area of Salt Lake City bears a striking resemblance to the Christmas season treats, so she started thinking of ways to decorate the home as a gigantic gingerbread house.

Hoffman enlisted the help of her family to make her vision a reality.

"I told my family about it and luckily they didn't think I was crazy. And so we painted these gumballs in the kitchen over Thanksgiving of 2019, and then my daughter and son-in-law helped me figure out how to attach them to the house," Hoffman told KSTU-TV.

Hoffman, an interior designer by trade, and her husband, a professional artist, added vanilla wafers into the mix for this year's decoration.

"We made that out of foam, insulation, and then my husband melted out the squares with a soldering iron, and I painted them and got the exact right colors to look like the cookies," Hoffman said.

The yearly décor has proven popular with neighbors, and this year's version went viral online after Hoffman's daughter shared photos on Reddit.

"I hope that if it can just put a smile on anyone's face, if it can just help a little bit, a little Christmas cheer, that's the whole goal. It will all be worth it," she said.