That tale is, as we all know, grim — but there's nothing quite as grim as a gingerbread house gone awry.

In an ideal world, gingerbread would be as hard as bricks and icing would be made of super glue, the combined powers of which would yield a standing, four-walled structure. But as these 20 Instagram photos will show you, that couldn't be further from the case.

From melted icing to cracked gingerbread walls, we rounded up some of the most wince-inducing gingerbread house fails shared on social media over the past few years.

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Keep scrolling to feel better about your own construction skills this holiday season.

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