Valentine’s Day is for kids

I  don’t know about you, but I love Valentine’s Day. I haven’t always loved the holiday, however.  When I was in my 20’s and single I thought the only thing that matter was to have a date for Valentine’s Day — a very romantic date, filled with high expectations.  Even if I had a date for February 14th, it rarely lived up to my (Hollywood’s) expectations. But once I had kids, it became a fun holiday.  In fact, it has become my favorite holiday. It is my favorite because it is so easy and inexpensive to absolutely thrill the little loves of your life.  They have a great time celebrating at school too, because when you’re in grade school no one is left out of feeling the love.

Store-bought vs. homemade

However, I do have to deal with the fact that my kids will be hanging their heads in shame while passing out store bought Valentine’s cards while the other students are stuffing some intricate, crafty, handmade Valentine  into the other kids’ Valentine’s boxes.  Those crafty moms assembled them a week ago after getting the idea on Pinterest, whereas I put ours into envelopes just before they got on the school bus.

Sweet treats and fond memories

I like seeing my girls’ little faces light up when I give them a box of chocolates and a stuffed animal and when they come home from school with their decorated shoe boxes full of cards from their classmates.  After they get home they go through their cards and treats for hours.  Seeing them so happy makes me happy and it also takes me right back to that age and all my memories of Valentine’s Day before the pressure set in to have the perfect date.

I do like getting chocolates and roses from my husband, of course, but my days of expecting a fancy dinner out and something sparkly in a little blue box are long gone (thank goodness).  Now my favorite part of  Valentine’s day is celebrating with my girls.