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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - In the room just one turn from the bottom of Paula Letemplier's basement steps is an eight-food gingerbread village.

Each Christmas for the past three years Paula - who's incidentally also known as Cookie - creates the village with her own and neighbour Cathryn Cowerchuk's family.

The Letemplier children Derrick, left, Sarah, centre, and Chantal, right, show off their eight-foot Mummer's Cove scene, a Christmas village made out of candy. - Lauren McKeon/NNSL photo

This year, with plenty of goldfish crackers, a black licorice dock and one lone mummer figure standing on the tip of a fishing boat, the village has taken on a Newfoundlander "Mummer's Cove" theme.

"We used four pounds of icing sugar this year," said Cowerchuk.

And, with plenty of resplendent rooftops, who knows how many pounds of candy, she added.

"The kids do pick at it," admitted Letemplier, while Cowerchuk joked that each of Letemplier's children had something in their mouths at that exact moment.

This year's village is the biggest yet, said Letemplier. In its first year, the village had a Yellowknife theme, at about five feet, and last year it had a hunting lodge, Northern theme and was about six feet long, she added.

As for the mummer theme: mummers are Newfoundlanders who disguise themselves and go knocking door-to-door and if invited in, entertain dwellers with music, explained Letemplier. Hosts will then try and guess the identity of the mummers.

The idea for the village came about four years ago when Cowerchuk invited some friends over to decorate some gingerbread houses.

"Next year we should do a village," Letemplier remembered saying.

The entire village takes an afternoon of decorating with both families chipping in. There is also a night of planning and creating the bases for the houses.

There is actually only one gingerbread house, revealed Letemplier, pointing to a discreet M&M and jellybean covered house in one corner.

"It's a lot of work to make (that much) gingerbread," said Cowerchuk.

"The rest is styrofoam," said Letemplier, who added both husbands create the houses.

With all the icing and candy, however, anybody would be hard pressed to tell.