The day before Christmas, my youngest started asking how long until Valentine’s Day. At first I was surprised that she was dismissing Christmas prior to the actual arrival of the holiday, and then I quickly realized that she was getting sucked into the marketing of the stores– Valentine’s were out with Christmas.  Well, 7 weeks later, we had a great time celebrating over the course of a few days.

I spent a lot of time considering some of the ever-creative and fun Valentine’s on Pinterest, but I knew my limited time and I knew I’d use the Valentine’s that I got on clearance last year (can’t beat that price.)  So I patted myself on the back for choosing simplicity– sometimes the hardest choice for me to make.  My oldest signed her Valentine’s in cursive (new and exciting) and we stapled a Sweetheart’s small pack of candy onto it.  My preschooler had her Boz Valentine’s and we stuffed a Hershey’s kiss into the envelope.  The park party was a lot of fun and all the bags hanging up by the clothespins on the backstops were adorable, and thanks to all those moms who stamped and decorated each and every bag.  It was a great afternoon.

As for the bottom row of pictures… Making M.’s Valentine’s for Cubbies at AWANA.  Oh, I had a simple idea.  I really, really did.  But, then I also had this “other” idea– and I liked my idea, and really wanted to do that.  So, vision beat simplicity this time around.  It actually was pretty simple, but 30 of them took some time.  There is more on that from a previous post.

Just coming off of a Sally Clarkson conference a week back, and still tasting the sweetness of that time, I decided to implement a few traditions for the actual Valentine’s Day.  Here they are…

Highlights included…

• A trail of hearts (also used as a counting exercise) from my daughters’ room to the table with the mailboxes ready to be opened, first thing.
• #1  I had made these mailboxes about three weeks prior (saw here), and knew I’d enclose a few goodies for February 14th .  (The mailboxes are from Target’s Dollar section, I painted and glued on wood letters, and then painted and glued on big wooden hearts on the side for my husband and myself, and little wooden hearts on the side for my girls.  Wooden letters, acrylic paint, and wooden hearts from Michael’s.)  Simple, cute, and personal!  I also added a store-bought card (because I didn’t take the time to make homemade Valentine’s) on the side of each person’s mailbox.  This reminded me of when I was a child and we had that same style of mailbox– of course larger– and if something was so big it couldn’t fit inside the mailbox it would be left to the side of it– so I liked the look of it.  My mailboxes aren’t quite finished yet, I still need to figure out some type of stand for them.  But they were still cute and fun.
• #2  They loved their simple mailbox treats.
• #3  Strawberry-banana smoothies and  gluten-free French toast sticks that I put in the shape of an ‘L’ (“love”) and a ‘V’ (Valentine’s).
• We read a few Valentine books, K. read us our book we read every year, “The Day it Rained Hearts” and I also read from 1 Corinthians 13.
• Park outing for Razor time and K. had art class with an awesome chalk-pastel heart craft!   (I also squeezed in some professional headshots for a client while K. was at art class.)
•  Lunch with my mom and my girls was super sweet.
• #4, #6  I took a break for baking.  Homemade gluten-free cinnamon rolls began for dinner
• #5, #7  Heart cakes baked for a snack.  The mini heart cakes were gluten free with gluten free frosting (#7) and I took a ziploc bag and crushed a bunch of sweethearts and then sprinkled them on the heart cakes. I saw a similar idea with cookie-pops online (but can’t find now).  We had those for an afternoon snack outside.
• #8  Then our new tradition: homemade cinnamon rolls and eggs for Valentine’s dinner!
• Off to AWANA for the girls.
• Date night (every Tuesday if the girls are at AWANA), we watched “The Help”– amazing.

I’ve been pondering Valentine’s Day traditions for awhile and I’m happy with our start.  My mom always left me a card and sometimes a small, thoughtful gift for me on Valentine’s Day.  Since my first official Valentine wasn’t until college I really appreciated that.  My husband left me roses on my car early in the morning our first Valentine’s Day, and has been faithful with roses since.  However, this year, I asked for ranunculus and tuberoses from the farmer’s market because they feed my soul more.  He was thrilled.  We don’t go out on Valentine’s so we can make it a family night, and we have our anniversary the next day so we celebrate sometime within a few days anyway.

But I honestly don’t want my girls growing up disappointed with the holiday.  After all, it is about love.  I think the message that we get sold on love (me-centered, all about feeling, not a choice)  is so opposite of real love, the kind that fills you up and brings clarity to your life.  Saint Valentine was martyred because he loved Jesus Christ so much and loved those around him and believed in marriage between men and women.  Yes, there are different legends, but his martyrdom is real, his love for his Savior, undeniable.  I want my girls growing up not looking for a man to make them feel special for one day.  I want my girls growing up knowing they aren’t worth more or less if they have a Valentine.  I want home to be the most exciting place for them.  Next year we will spend some time thinking of ideas of how we can love others more, and maybe make some Valentine’s for neighbors, etc.  After all, I think the majority of Americans are left feeling unloved on the day that is supposed to be about making you feel loved and know how special you are.