If only Elmer's Glue was made of Chocolate... little Sherry Holms would not have been such an outcast in the second grade...

When I was growing up I loved to visit the Allison's house. There were lots of reasons for this, not the least of which was that they always had a bottomless cookie jar. This was such a treat!  We rarely had cookies at our house, and going to the Allison's home always involved cookies. And not the healthy oatmeal and raisin types. Marie Allison was a die hard chocaholic (the misspelling here is deliberate- more on that later) so there were always Chocolate cookies in Marie's cookie jar.

This cookie jar thing wasn't just a courtesy, it was a policy. Marie had the philosophy that if you kept a full jar of cookies out all the time, that eventually it would become less special and that everyone would learn a lesson in moderation. The theory sounded good at the time, and I totally supported it because I loved Chocolate cookies! Unfortunately, the lesson backfired and most of us grew up to have weight issues despite Marie's best efforts.

But the thing that Marie's cookie jar experiment did teach me was a deep love and respect for the power of chocolate. Not that those cookies and accompanying hot cocoa were really gourmet or anything, they weren't. The chocolate was the medium for the message. It held us together like yummy gooey chocolate glue.... mmmmmm. We would sit and sip cocoa for hours and talk about life and laugh until we couldn't laugh any more. ...and I swear it wasn't just the sugar high. I grew up during those talks. Chocolate has that kind of power. I'm pretty sure a bottomless bowl of broccoli would not have drawn me in. I might be thinner, but I would not have spent that kind of quality time with Marie. So, today make it a point to eat some chocolate glue with a friend. And check it out, maybe it would work on those macaroni pictures. mmmmmmm... macaroni pictures....

Chocolate O'Clock

I've heard it said that when people look back on their lives they won't wish they worked more hours a week. But I think they might wish they'd eaten more Chocolate. Is there an occasion during which it is inappropriate to eat Chocolate? I cannot think of even one. Even some of the most pious mothers have been known to sneak a small chocolate treat to her youngster in order to bribe them into submission during church services. And on the flip side, I cannot think of one event or activity that is not made better by chocolate. Okay, swimming and hiking are made considerably messier. But better none-the-less.

Chocolate is not like eating just anything. It is always special. Even when you eat just a small amount at "Chocolate O'Clock" like I do every day at around 2pm, it never becomes routine. Every day at Chocolate O'Clock I set aside just a few moments to sit down with a hot cup (drinker's choice) and a bit of high quality chocolate. My husband's mother, Sally had her own chocolate philosophy, as I suspect many women (and some men) do. She thought that if you are going to eat chocolate, you should splurge on only the finest chocolates. Anything less was not worth her time. 

The older I get, the more I value her perspective on this. I don't want to set off a huge controversy here (just one big enough to get me more readers). So I will concede that sometimes a Chocolate bar is just what you are craving. After all, it is conveniently mixed with other yummy ingredients and it is generally readily available. But when you have a moment to think it through, you should plan ahead for Chocolate O'Clock. It is important. After all, you don't want to come to the end of your life and wish you had eaten more (or better quality) chocolate. "If only" is the saddest phrase in our language.