Finding the Glorious in the Mundane: A Sweet Valentine's Day...

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I have vivid memories as a child (in boarding school) getting a package in the mail every February with a card from my parents and a chocolate heart. I would savor that heart over the entire week of Valentine's Day. I remember another Valentine's Day, sweet sixteen, yet not so sweet when my boyfriend broke up with me three days later. Heartbroken! One year, I received (from that same boyfriend!) the biggest stuffed white gorilla holding a giant Hershey kiss and a bouquet of red roses. I am sure I blushed... Since then, Valentine's Day has held many more memories.

Last year, I posted about giving my husband the 12 days of Valentine's. It was so much fun! But to be honest, this year I cheated and found on Pinterest (of course!) some printable tags for the 14 days of Valentine's. Here is her link and a glimpse of a couple of the Valentines that I surprised my hubbie with from February 1 through Valentine's Day. Most of the items I found at the Dollar Tree. The bouncy balls were a God-send the morning he found them, entertaining our girls for a good hour downstairs while I madly threw together the Valentine cards needing to be mailed to out-of-town family. The cupcake was free from GiGi's Cupcakes (used the free Thursday code! Woo hoo!) My card to him was also found on Pinterest, but adapted to the dying scrapbooker in me. He is always so appreciative of anything I make for him and saves all of his cards in a box, which makes it worth anytime I spend on them

The girls made simple valentines from blank white cards, foam bookmarks (both from a previous year's leftovers), and the printable glow stick idea from Pinterest. The glow sticks were perfect this year since my 8 year old has become very conscientious about what boys think. Great valentine for boys or girls! On the other hand, Naomi, my six year old, could not understand why someone would give her a Star Wars valentine. "I don't even like Star Wars, Mommy!" The day before Valentine's, they made their cards for their daddy by stamping with pencil erasers, thanks to.... Pinterest. I know I should really give it a break.

I'm coming to realize that my expectations of these holidays are affecting my girls more and more. Chloe was so upset when she realized that Daddy had to work on Valentine's Day, the mail lady had to work on Valentine's Day, and we had to do school work on Valentine's Day. What is the world coming to?