The bricks? Don’t lick.

A gingerbread house on display embodies holiday tradition, craftsmanship, flavor. And holiday temptation: the urge to snap off a bit of porch, have a go at the eaves, relieve the facade of candied embellishment. Or give the pastry bricks a lick.

None of that will happen this year at the Bellagio Conservatory, where the giant gingerbread house in the holiday display shelters within a mammoth replica of a bedizened Fabergé egg, separated from the attentions of seasonal revelers by an artificial pond.

The Bellagio gave the Review-Journal exclusive behind-the-scenes access as the house was constructed, finished and installed. Tradition, it turns out, required three months, a team of 10 and a pallet jack.