Working at a Chocolate Factory, your list of Valentines quickly grows. Let’s see – there’s my significant other, my parents, my siblings, my nieces and nephews and my closest friends. Then there are my daily acquaintances, the folks I see on a regular basis for services and have a friendly working relationship with. For all of those folks, I’m expected to give Valentine’s Chocolates. Phew! That’s quite a list.

But what about me? Will I get Valentine gifts from everyone? Will they be indicative of what these folks do for work? Will my Dad give me free gasoline? Will my sister give me free golf? Will my friends give me jewelry? I should assume it won’t work that way and just find joy in the giving. It is nice to see people’s faces light up when they pull out a heart shaped box of truffles or some type of Valentine Candy.

The true gift is in the giving, I suppose. And I really do enjoy shopping the shelves filled with pink and purple foils, colorful heart shaped boxes and all the red wrapped stuff. It’s pretty and it’s fun and it makes me smile. But what ever happened to the days of kindergarten when everyone gave valentines and everyone got valentines? I miss those days. With that being said, I think I’ll go give myself a valentine right now – some yummy milk chocolate caramel hearts. Why don’t you do the same? Give yourself something special and don’t worry about the calories.  They don’t count on Valentine’s Day, right?