What sweet visions dance in your head?

No one is quite sure when Christmas season actually starts.

There are several unofficial beginnings these days — including Thanksgiving, the Coeur d’Alene downtown lighting ceremony (which is also Black Friday), or …

Maybe it begins when stores start putting out Christmas items and decorations for sale sometime in September.

Ah, but here in our little space, it doesn’t matter.

We’re consumed with a different and sweeter holiday project, no matter when the Christmas season starts.

We want to know your favorite candy for the Christmas season, the treat that makes you think of home, family, stockings by the fireplace and all of those warm, fuzzy things.

There’s been a great start to this discussion, by the way.

One type of candy seems to make North Idahoans purr more than any other, if early voting is any indication.

I’m not going to tell you what it is, either.

As they say on Election Day, I don’t want to influence late voters.

In any event, please email me at the address you see at the bottom of this column, and let me know what candy makes you think of Christmas.

I’M NOT going to count my own vote, but I doubt it matters since it’s not likely to affect our results.

But I do want to say that Christmas was a very big deal in our house when I was growing up.

My mother did so much individual handiwork on some spectacular Christmas decorations, our living room and dining room should have been featured in a national magazine.

Sigh …

Now back to the candy that tied it all together …

I have no idea how my folks settled on this, but my sister and I were always given these hollow candy canes made of cardboard.

They were filled with chocolate mint cookies, kind of a smaller version of the Girl Scout mints you buy every year.

Because of the similarity, I’m reminded of home and childhood whenever I come across any chocolate mint cookies.

To me, they still mean Christmas.

It’s neat.

And that’s the sort of memory I’m asking you to share, whether it’s fairly recent or some type of sweet that’s been in your family for generations.

YES, WE’VE heard from our friends at CandyStore.com, the folks who insisted that Idahoans buy more Candy Corn than any other goodies for Halloween.

You may recall, I found that statement so odd that we conducted a general, hit-and-miss survey of Kootenai County residents as they wandered candy aisles prior to Halloween.

Almost no one singled out Candy Corn as a favorite, and many suggested it was a Boise delight — thus skewing our state statistics.

Clair Robins of CandyStore.com has now released the company’s polling of top Christmas candies for every state in the country, and here’s the company’s result for Idaho …

M&Ms

Hershey Kisses

Chocolate Santas

Maybe this is another Boise thing, because M&Ms have no particular tie to Christmas in my mind.

Sure, they begin selling packages of the red and green ones in addition to the all-year rainbow mix.

But M&Ms as a Christmas season favorite?

I don’t see it, and so far North Idahoans don’t have that feeling, either.

Now, chocolate Santas, I can get that.

Plus, it’s easy to imagine a bowl of them on a counter, claim you have no interest at all, and wind up guzzling down about 200 of the things.

So there you go.

We know what a national company’s numbers say for the whole state, and I have some hints from readers already, but we’re waiting for YOUR favorite Christmas candy.

And even if you think instantly of M&Ms …

I promise not to hold a grudge.

•••

Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.

A Brand New Day appears from Wednesday through Saturday each week.

Steve’s column on Gonzaga basketball runs on Tuesday.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

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Twitter: @BrandNewDayCDA