The day after Valentine’s Day means two things to me. One, Dove’s chocolate truffles are half-priced. In case you haven’t heard, Dove truffles are heaven in a box and can only be purchased around Valentine’s Day and Easter. You might want to stock up – the season is short. Two, it means that our family candy basket has been replenished with The Good Stuff. Excluding my Dove truffles, of course. Mama doesn’t share those.

Our family candy basket is usually piled high with sweets my boys have been given. I’ve found that school-aged kids bring home tons of candy. This is mainly due to the invention of The Goody Bag. Six school holidays, plus dozens of birthday parties, times two children equals a lot of goody bags over the course of a year. Valentine’s Day brings extra candy, as most kids hand out treats in addition to the little cards they exchange with their classmates.

Once home, our sons are allowed to choose a few favorite pieces, then dump the rest into the communal basket. I know there are plenty of older, wiser mothers who would advise me to throw the remainder away. I just can’t seem to do that, though. Perhaps it’s because it feels wrong to toss something that doesn’t belong to me. Or, if I’m honest, candy is quite useful as a bribery tool and I’ll confess to having resorted to it more than once with my boys.

I also fear that abolishing the candy basket would upset my sisters. They’re about my age, but don’t have children of their own constantly bringing this stuff home. So, their visits are punctuated by several dips into their nephews’ stash, as the sweet treats of their youth momentarily turn them back into little girls again. I am always amused by their sheepish grins when they’re caught sneaking the basket off the top of our refrigerator!

It must be stored up high, because my son Eli makes Willy Wonka look like a health nut. Zach, my firstborn, doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth. Naturally, until Eli came along, I thought this was because I had done an amazing job of teaching Zach to prefer healthy foods. But when my loving husband gave baby Eli his first lick of a lollipop, his eyes lit up like fireworks and you could practically hear Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus resounding inside his little mind. I realized that I was parenting an entirely different creature this time around.

The following conversation occurs frequently at our house.

Me: “Eli, what do you want for breakfast today?”
Eli: “A lollipop!”
Me: “You can’t have a lollipop for breakfast, silly! How about a waffle?”
Eli: “No, thanks. I want a popsicle.”
Me: “Popsicles aren’t for breakfast, either. You have to eat some real food!”
Eli: “Okay. I want some bubble gum!”

His persistence is impressive, considering that I’ve never caved and fed him candy or bubble gum for breakfast. Kids are funny that way. Sometimes I wonder if it would be an issue if he didn’t know that basket of sugar was lurking on top of the refrigerator? I’d like to think that its presence is helping me teach the concept of moderation. Too much of anything is bad, but candy itself isn’t evil. So, the candy basket will probably remain a fixture in our kitchen, as long as I have children bringing home goody bags. It’s time to call my sisters and let them know it has been restocked.

Speaking of the phone, I forgot to mention one other thing that happens on February 15th. Time to call the dentist!