We’re all bombarding our sweethearts with delicious, decadent chocolates this time of year. But if your love is a discriminating chocolate connoisseur, don’t show up at the door with a box of cocoa-flavored sugar from the drugstore. Here are our favorite outside-the-box confections that scream “I love you” – even if you eat them all yourself (and yes, we took on the arduous task of testing them out). All these brands ship, so you can click, drool and buy from the comfort of your couch. Note: Prices listed are for boxes of varying sizes.

JoMart: This Brooklyn-based, family-owned chocolate shop churns out all sorts of scrumptious treats. Try JoMart’s handmade, chocolate dipped marshmallows in flavors including s’mores, coffee and maple nut ($13.50 for 1/2 pound). The fluffy sweetness proves a nice break from all those heavy chocolate candies one usually finds around Valentine’s Day.

NEW YORK (AP) — Revelers erupted in cheers amid a confetti-filled celebration in New York’s Times Square to welcome in the new year, part of star-studded festivities and glittering fireworks displays around the world to usher in 2012.

From New Zealand to New York, the world eagerly welcomed a new year Sunday and hoped for a better future, saying goodbye to a year of hurricanes, tsunamis and economic turmoil that many would rather forget.

In New York, hundreds of thousands gathered at the crossroads of the world to witness a crystal ball with more than 30,000 lights that descended at midnight. Lady Gaga and Mayor Michael Bloomberg led the crowd in the final-minute countdown of the famed crystal-paneled ball drop.

When it comes to celebrating New Year’s Eve with the kids, family-friendly events may be a little difficult to come by during a celebration that seems to revolve around champagne. Boston led the way for First Night celebrations with the very first First Night held in 1976. The New Year’s Eve event banned alcohol, ensuring the countdown to midnight was family friendly. By 2006, more than a million attended the city’s First Night Celebration. Today, First Night in Boston features fireworks at midnight over Boston Harbor, among citywide attractions. Other notable First Night cities include historic Old Town Alexandria, Va., Pittsburgh, Pa., Providence, R.I., and Bethlehem, Pa.

The anticipation of Christmas Eve is almost as great for Santa as it is for the children he delivers presents to. With the night looming, he is just finishing up squeezing in a few more kids at Woodgrove Centre to make sure every good child in Nanaimo gets what he or she wants for Christmas.

Like every year, it’s a busy one. In fact, with increasing global populations, every year is busier than the one before.

But delivering presents to all the children of the world is what Santa lives for.

For military personnel far from home for the holidays . . . few sounds are more welcome than the words MAIL CALL. And dedicated volunteers here on the home front are working hard to make sure that none our troops anywhere in the world is disappointed. Our Cover Story is reported now by Tracy Smith:

For a few days every year, hundreds of volunteers crowd a National Guard armory in Van Nuys, Calif., making boxes bound for war.

They’re packed with little bits of home: new toothbrushes . . . DVDs . . . Girl Scout cookies . . . hand-knit scarves . . . things that can make life in the combat zone easier, or at least bearable.

The name on the side says it all: Operation Gratitude.

When Tracy Smith asked if there were still a need for care packages since the U.S. has withdrawn troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, Carolyn Blashek – founded Operation Gratitude eight years ago – said, “There’s absolutely still a need.

Violence erupted at Black Friday sales across the U.S. with one bargain-hunter left critically injured after being shot during a robbery and 15 other people injured when an angry shopper used pepper spray.

Several of the incidents took place at Wal-Mart stores as millions of Americans loaded up on holiday purchases.

Update 11:57 a.m. ET: An off-duty police officer used pepper spray on shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Kinston, N.C.

Kinston police Sgt. Roland Davis said an off-duty officer whom the store had hired to help with security used the chemical while trying to make an arrest during a disturbance. Unconfirmed reports said as many as 20 peopl ewer affected.

About 3.5 million people were expected to crowd the route of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York on Thursday while an additional 50 million watched from home.

A jetpack-wearing monkey and a freakish creation from filmmaker Tim Burton are two of the big new balloons that will make their inaugural appearances, while Mary J. Blige, Cee Lo Green, Avril Lavigne and the Muppets are scheduled to take the stage at the end of the route in Herald Square.

Macy’s parade will feature more than 40 other balloon creations, 27 floats, 800 clowns and 1,600 cheerleaders.

The parade began at 77th Street and heads south on Central Park West to Seventh Avenue, before moving to Sixth Avenue and ending at Macy’s Herald Square.

With Father’s Day right around the corner, maybe you’re scrambling for some great gift ideas for dad. Ties and golf clubs are nice, but maybe this year dad deserves a seriously “cool tool.”

WASHINGTON — Americans from Washington to California are marking Memorial Day with parades, barbecues and special tributes tied to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

An annual holiday honoring the nation’s war dead was infused with new meaning this year, coming just months before the 10-year anniversary.

ORLANDO, Fla. — George Lucas figures he’s working on his third generation of “Star Wars” fans, and plenty of them were standing in line with their parents Friday to get first crack at Walt Disney World’s overhauled ride based on the iconic movie franchise.

The 67-year-old “Star Wars” creator came to the park to celebrate the reopening of the venerable Star Tours motion simulator ride. The ride’s 25-year-old story and visuals have been updated with a new tale, digital projection system and 3-D effects. Lucas even armed himself with a light saber to share a stage with Disney CEO Robert Iger, Darth Vader and other movie characters as park guests watched.