This is why the rest of the world hates us

For me, it's strange to see the Mall of America as a tourist destination sometimes.

While I've been on the other side of the fence before - the, "Oh, let's hit the Mall of America! We're in Minneapolis!" side of the fence - now it's the big mall 10 minutes from the house.

We were there Sunday afternoon to do a little holiday shopping while the only football game on local television was Vikings/Cardinals from the Dome.

While I'd heard a very low buzz about the gingerbread mansion, I'd kind of forgotten it was there until we were in the mall and saw the signs for it.

According to the official web site:

Gingerbread artist and current World Record Holder Roger Pelcher and his team of gingerbread experts will log 1,700 hours between now and November 24 to create a 60-foot gingerbread wonder. Encompassing 1,496 square feet, the house will consist of 14,250 pounds of gingerbread and 4,750 pounds of icing. KKE Architects and PCL Construction Services, Inc. are serving as major sponsors of the construction, donating time and resources to the completion of the house...

Donated embellishments include 1,800 Hershey's® chocolate bars; 2,800 Pearsons Nut Rolls; 1,200 feet of Twizzlers®; 100 pounds of large-sized Tootsie Rolls®; 300 pounds of DOTS®; 100 12" Whirly Pops®; 100 pounds each of Brach's Star Brites® Mix, Holiday Mix, Crimp Ribbon, Christmas Spicettes and Christmas Nougats; and thousands of candy canes from Farley & Sathers.

If I'm a starving person in the Twin Cities, I'm very, very angry right now. As a guy who eats more than he should, I'm just angry.

Yes, I know there is money being donated to a senior center and all... but still.

If you'd like to see the monstrosity in web cam form, here it is and it's worth noting it's hosted by the construction company that built it.

Try and defend this however you'd like, but the bottom line is this - a house bigger than the one we're renting is being made of food. The end.

* Also worth noting was the sign I saw walking into the mall through one of the retail chain stores. It was full of kids clothes - hats and mittens - and everything was 50 percent off.

That is to say that when you read the price, you were to assume that the price you'd pay at the register would be exactly half.

The original prices were even, round numbers - $6, $8, $14, etc. - and they still felt the need to break down what half of 6, 8 or 14 was on a handy sign. Are we really that dumb, or does the store just assume we're that dumb?

I'm pretty confused by it all.