omg...

...I am so sick of gingerbread men.

I love them, I love making them, I love decorating them, but when there's over 100 to do in a short period of time, when there are 100 million other things going on and needing to be done, they become a little less fun and more of a chore.  I hate chores.

I spent a lot of money on the ingredients, since I had to make so many and because molasses is a whopping $4 a jar.

But only after I had spent the money and killed myself putting it all together did Target decide to put THIS on their shelves, which would have saved me quite a bit of money and (something in much shorter supply:) a heck of a lot of TIME:

I can't repeat the words I said when I saw that mix on the shelf. 

Something along the lines of "son of a...!!!". 

:)

In my fit of rage at seeing it, I bought everything at Target that I needed....EXCEPT m&ms for the buttons, so I had to make-do with chocolate chips I had in the freezer.

Then after they'd been iced and were ready to be packaged, they were being stored in the oven so the cat wouldn't sit on them or eat them. 

But I forgot that and I turned on the oven to get it warm so I could cook garlic bread. 

I noticed the burning smell about 10 minutes later. 

Still didn't register that all my little men were burning and their frosting melting. I just assumed it was something on the stove top where I was cooking pasta.  Jesse finally opened the oven and discovered the atrosity. 

Luckily I did not burn the house down, nor did I even ruin any of the men (except for two)!  That's my 2011 Christmas Miracle, I guess.

This is a funny story now, but it was NOT funny at the time, or for several days afterward.  :(

I'm so glad I'm done with those suckers.  And I'm back to loving them again.