A story about a star, a Hershey's Kiss, and a girl who loves chocolate.

"A day without chocolate is a day without sunshine.”
“Life without chocolate is like a beach without water.”

“And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.”
3 Nephi 17:23

PREFACE: THE STAR

The Austin and Turner families received 12 beautifully wrapped presents from Carol, aka Grandma Austin, for Christmas. Every morning, for twelve days, Kali, Caleb and Emi of the Colorado Austin household woke up extra early to open a new present. Now, these boxes didn't contain some forgettable plastic toy which would have been enjoyed for a day or two and then discarded at the bottom of the toy box. The purpose of each gift was to give the families something memorable to do together as a family. The Colorado Austins have spent countless hours playing Uno flash (gift on day 4), and those moments surly will not be forgotten.

On one of the first days (in fact, it may have been the very first day), the gift was a simple wooden star. It came with instructions, which explained that if you were in possession of the star you had to do something kind for a family member and then place the star on that person's pillow – all secretly, of coarse. If you found the star on your pillow, then it was your turn to pay it forward.

Christmas passed, and all of the decorations were packed away. All except for the star, which got left behind in a child's bedroom.

THE GIRL WHO LOVES CHOCOLATE

Anybody who knows anything about 10 year old Kali knows that this girl loves chocolate. You know she is a true chocolate lover because she prefers dark chocolate over the wimpy milky stuff. One morning, Kali found a Hershey's Kiss hiding on the floor behind a door. Ecstatic, she ran down the stairs to show Mom her find. Mom jokingly grabbed it from her, telling her that it was way too early to be eating chocolate. Mom was kidding of coarse, because she understands a girl's love of chocolate - and she gave it back. Kali ran back upstairs, and Mom assumed the tiny piece of chocolate had been devoured before Kali even reached the top step.

A HERSHEY'S KISS

Sometimes, Mom can get a little down because she thinks her life is dull. Here is an example of a typical morning for Mom: she drags herself out of bed at an ungodly hour to get in her morning run, feeds three sleepy-eyed children breakfast, makes two lunches, and once the two older children are off to school, she focuses on spending the rest of the morning straightening up the house (you can't really call what she does cleaning) - all while entertaining a three year old princess.

So it was on a typical, unexciting morning when Mom was begrudgingly making her way to her bedroom to make her bed that she found something on her pillow that completely took her breath away.

In that moment, Mom realized that her life is in fact not dull at all. It is rich and filling and delicious. Just like chocolate.

“...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” Alma 37:6