We were in the courtyard this morning with two other kids. One was scarfing down a chocolate coin and the other licked at a candy cane.

Stephen stood in front of them staring and drooling like a little tu bao zhi (country bumpkin) who’d never seen candy before. We’re a family of cake and chocolate eaters so he’s never had more than a handful of brightly colored, artificially favored candy.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing at the red, white, and green striped candy cane.

“It’s candy, honey, and it’s peppermint so it’s a little spicy. You probably won’t like it,” I replied.

“Like it. Buy it. Try.”

Later in the supermarket, I tried in vain to find a candy cane. Fortunately, Marv showed up unexpectedly and took us to the gourmet shop down the street where Stephen got 3 pieces of handmade truffles instead.

When we get candy, we go all out! None of that cheap crap for us.