Are you going to be naughty or nice?

As almost everyone who’s worked in an office for any length of time knows, holidays bring out the munch monster. It’s not that anyone goes out looking for the triple-decker fudge brownies or the powder cookies and eggnog. They just magically appear, courtesy of those two women who bake out of habit and have perfected their art of so much practice.

And they are revealed in all their glory around Christmas.

But as everyone equally knows when these foods are dropped with aplomb on the lunchroom table, the delectables disappear faster than you can say, “visions of sugar-plums danced through their heads.”

To combat the sugar saturation, how about a little Subtle Sweetness, courtesy of AAA Fruit Basket — seven pounds of exotic and seasonal fruit for $40 from the local company. For information call 800-741-8521, fax 360-699-0597 or order online at www.aaafruitbasket.com.

Local grocery stores will happily also put together food baskets, but they likely won’t add the coup de grace and deliver. And though it’s not local, it’s hard to refuse the Harry and David Fruit of the Month Club. Sign up at www.harryanddavid.com as a fight against evil. Well, lets just say it can’t hurt. And yes, the assumption that there’s any fight could be wrong.

Of course, the holidays make people forget about the other periods of the year when the well runs dry; where, shockingly you have to bring lunch to fill up. That’s where the Solskinn Taffy Shoppe can help. Whether it’s placed at the front desk, in one office or in the lunchroom, the Bremerton company will bring five to 10 pounds of saltwater taffy to your business every week or month.

That’s still all the sugar, though not as many calories at a cost of $20 to $40. For more information visit the store at 1016 Burwell Street, Bremerton 98310 or call them at 360-782-2654 or 877-880-8697.

(Editor’s Note: Temple A. Stark is a free-lance writer living in Port Orchard. Reach him at writer@templestark.com).