Don't mess with her chocolate!

I traded places with Ina for the last two weeks. While she was in California, I was in the Nordic region (Finland to be exact). I have been to Sweden twice in the last year and now Finland once (with two more trips planned before the year ends).

Whenever possible, I try to bring home some sort of small gifts for the family. This is my way of thanking them for taking care of things at home while I am away. On my first trip to Sweden (December 2007), I picked up some bars of chocolate to bring home.

These chocolate bars were a big hit! When my customer from Sweden visited California in March 2008, they kindly brought some chocolate bars with them. Now when I go to the area, this is a common request from the family.

When Ina arrived, she brought the family some very nice gifts. This included similar chocolate bars from Norway that were also a big hit. Ina received a care package from home with similar chocolate too. She shared a piece with me one day with crunchy bits in it, so I knew that she liked that.

On my trip to Finland that just ended, I picked up some chocolate to bring home. Bethany and Hayley each got the same bars as I brought before. Ina got a chocolate bar with the crunchy bits in it. However, I got a different brand of chocolate for Celeste that was a little smaller (Karl Fazer).

It turns out that Celeste likes the chocolate bar with crunchy bits too. She has not tried the Karl Fazer bar and I'm sure that she will enjoy it. However, she looked at Ina's bar and said that she would be sharing it. :-)

I have seen videos of mother bears or mother lions guarding their young. Ina had the same look about her chocolate bar. She quickly retreated to her room for the first taste of her new prize and to find a suitable spot to guard it.

Of course it was all in good fun. No one is really worried about sharing chocolate. There is plenty for all!

- Rob