Thank you, Steve Wynn.

Completion of a luxurious three-foot casino, topped with a dense layer of icing and a gift-packed sleigh—teetering above a European-themed
 high-end shopping village—has boosted consumer confidence as far upward as the heavens.

This addition of decadence to the Strip (as only Wynn can orchestrate) means two beautiful things: We’re in the money again, and ginger mania is afoot. Time for another building boom, ushered in with the generous (and sudden) onslaught of gingerbread, gumdrops, marshmallows, frosting and candy canes flying off supermarket shelves.

Forget about critics arguing that new housing construction blasts a middle finger to the foreclosure rates and short sale problems and hurts the multitude of ginger manses sitting empty. Why buy a cracked, stale, molasses-covered den (with dog hair stuck to the candy cane terrace) when fresh honey is being poured into a new home just down the street? After all, Vegas Inc recently reported that foreclosure-related filings are down 55 percent from a year ago and new land sales are afoot.

It’s not like us to learn from lessons past, anyway. Bring on that moist loaf, that crunchy cookie and hearty biscuit. Let’s build! And quickly. Ryland Homes’ November purchase of 38 acres on Sunset Road between Durango and Buffalo means lots of sweet ginger coming our way.

It’s not likely to hurt the Realtors selling vintage and mid-mod homes Downtown who say there’s demand from buyers not wanting the “aesthetic banality” of the cookie-cutter ’hoods rising on the outskirts, only to crumble in the first wind storm, economic hellfire or looming icing shortage.

And as for Steve Wynn’s gorgeous and “entirely edible masterpiece” (weighing more than 295 pounds and displayed at the hotel’s buffet), all we can say is, “Viva Las Vegas!”