Many hotels in San Francisco create gingerbread houses specifically for the Christmas holidays. A few have actually become institutions per se given that people expect to see them year after year during the holidays. The super posh Fairmont Hotel on top of Nob Hill builds a life size one which visitors don't only see but can enter as well. In fact, it was just featured in USA Today shortly before Christmas day. I wrote about it in my blog last year.

The Palace Hotel is popular too because local celebrities gather in the hotel and build their own for display in the hotel's lobby. Unlike last year when the displays numbered at least a dozen gingerbread houses,this year their gingerbread house display was much smaller in size but pretty just the same.

Taking pictures of these houses was a bit of a challenge to say the least. The crowds gathered were big and everyone was clicking away like the paparazzi hounding Hollywood celebs. Besides looking colorful, another thing I like about these gingerbread houses is their smell. You can really smell the sugar used to make them. So sweet, so wonderful. Combine that with the cold winter air and you have Christmas magic.