Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades...

I almost made it this year. I summoned my willpower and cloaked myself in it before entering any establishment where they might lurk from mid-November on. I studiously avoided the bulk food aisles, especially: I'd make a beeline for the chocolate melty wafers (used in our annual Christmas treat making) with a laser beam focus, then get the heck out. I made it until Christmas without succumbing. I finally had done it! I was soooo proud of myself.

Then, it happened. December 28th, about 5:30pm. We'd just returned home from our annual Christmas trip to the motherland. We needed milk. I popped over to the closest grocery store to our home. I was *just* going for milk. I wasn't even near the bulk foods section. And then, BLAMMO. I was hit. Directly in front of me, all out on its lonesome, a solitary bulk foods bin. Marked down astronomically. Clearance sale leftover Christmas candy. For a mere 59 cents a pound, they could be mine. I do not know what about them is so darn appealing. Obviously, they are not universally beloved, or they wouldn't be overflowing the clearance bin. They must be the candy equivalent of the leaden fruitcake no one ever wants or eats. No one, that is, besides me.

Did I resist? Of course not. I completely succumbed. For a measly 37 cents, I brought home a bag full. Two days later, I found myself making an excuse to go back to that grocery store (one at which I do not regularly shop because it is truly lousy) and found myself drifting over..... would that bin still be there? It was. I succumbed again. Another 42 cents' worth*.

I. Cannot. Resist. Them.


Damn you, Brach's Christmas Tree Nougats. You got me again.



*Please do not point out what $.37 + $.42 worth of nougats at $.59 a pound equals. I am all too well aware of how much nougaty goodness I've consumed in the past week. No one else in the family eats them, so I *know* they've all been eaten by me. Well, not all - there are a handful left down in the fruit bowl, next to the bananas. At least until my next trip through the kitchen, anyhow...............