I know that a lot of people don't like Valentine's Day. And while I do understand their concerns, I truly believe that a holiday is only as commercialized as you allow it to be. Its the same with Christmas, Easter, St. Patricks Day, and so on... I think it is wonderful to set aside a day to focus on the important relationships in your life. So...we spread Valentine's day out over the whole week. For us, it is not just about romantic love (although we celebrate that too!) but about showing love to all who are important to us. We don't give presents (except Ryan gave me a washboard this year...I'm sure very few people will understand why I'm excited about that!) but we focus on taking deliberate steps to show people how we care.
We started yesterday with showing love to our family. After some discussion, we decided that we would make daddy a very special (and fancy) supper. Of pink pancakes. So really, it only looked fancy.
Of course, we had to dress up. Brooklynn is always looking for reasons to wear a party dress!
Family pictures are oh so interesting with 3 small children. And I don't think I could have been more subtle with the camera remote!
I put a pink heart on each person's plate (or high chair tray) that said "I love______ because..." During dinner, we went around the table and said why we love each person. I recorded what was said, by whom and how old they were. We will do this every year and keep them with the Valentine's Day decorations. I think it will be fun in years to come to look back on what we said.
