The waiting room at Riverside Walter Reed Hospital has gotten an injection of Christmas cheer.

The Gloucester hospital, which recently welcomed a new $55 million wing, has undergone a different kind of construction project, with gingerbread houses filling the waiting room.

The aptly named Walter Reed Village was thought up by the RWRH president Esther Desimini, but it took the departments, staff and practices to bring it all together.

Back on Dec. 1, Desimini sent out an email asking those who might be interested in constructing gingerbread houses, to come a grab a gingerbread house kit. What she didn’t expect was the overwhelming response.

“After two days, all of the gingerbread kits were taken,” said Desimini. When the one-week deadline came, the waiting room was turned into a gingerbread town.

Once a patient or family member walks into the main waiting room of Riverside, they’ll see the plethora of gingerbread houses that the employees of Walte...