Macaroons. Chocolate eggs. Candy polar bears, lambs, owls and bunnies. A 3-foottall figure from “Lord of the Rings,” constructed all in chocolate.

Being something of a smart aleck, I’ve sometimes joked that while I may look white, actually I’m Irish. All eight of my great-grandparents were born there. Indeed, there was a time during the Great Potato Famine of 1845-52 when my ancestors endured conditions similar to Black enslaved people in America. Millions of Irish peasants starved even as the country exported plentiful foodstuffs guarded by British soldiers. Had they been enslaved, they might have been fed.

Joe Biden has only days to serve as president of the United States. But anyone watching events in Paris over the weekend would think President-elect Donald Trump has already taken office. The president-elect traveled to France ostensibly to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral, but the visit turned into high-level diplomacy between European leaders – French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others – and the next U.S. president.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I have always had a fear of heights, which has made me hesitant to try things that involve being up high. However, one item on my bucket list has been going skydiving in Dubai, and I’m determined to conquer this fear. I know that facing my fear head-on would be a huge personal achievement, but the idea of jumping out of an airplane fills me with anxiety. Despite this, I am committed to pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and I believe that overcoming this fear would help me grow in ways I’ve never imagined.