Valentine's

Seriously... I L.O.V.E. all holidays... probably because while I was growing up I was denied all of the fun of them. But I think that the Valentine's days of my school days were the hardest to bear (well, Christmas was a pretty darn big event too.) for me. I SO wanted to get the cool tattoo valentines or the conversation heart candies on my desk with my name written in. Never really happened... I was always the 'weird' kid sitting out in the hallway with a coloring sheet at a cold desk while the parties were going on down the hallways. I think once when I was in the second grade my friend Rachel gave me one... which of coarse I showed to my brother who immediately told my mother who made me give it back, used it as a "Witnessing moment". (Yeah, it's o.k. to say WTF? here.) Talk about embarrassing!

So, I LOVE helping the girls make out Valentine's day cards, doing the cool little boxes for their desks... Eden made a cool 'butterfly' box with fly away hearts glued onto it... turned out really cute and she is SO proud of it! Eryn did a basic white on white motif using wedding paper wrap. And on Valentine's day we will have special jello heart desserts and a fancy dinner. I make corny Valentine's cards for the girls and Dan. This year we are starting a new tradition of hiding 10 different colored wrapped kisses around the house as a sort of treasure hunt for the girls. Kind of like a practice run for Easter egg hunting, but it's gonna be so much FUN! One year I made heart shaped cookies with each child's name written in frosting across the tops for the girl's parties at school... a little "Martha Stewart" I know, but it was fun and the girls loved passing them out. Lately I love getting the matching shirts from Target (4.99... can't beat it!) and snapping a picture of the girls dressed in them, and emailing it to Dan's parents as a Valentine card... I discovered this the one year I wasn't organized enough to make the cards in advance and send them out in the mail... Grandparents loved it!

Dan accuses me of living vicariously through my children. Maybe so, but is that really such a bad thing? Why not show them all of the love we feel for them everyday AS WELL as on the special days? Will that spoil them too much, I ask? Really? Or will they look back on their growing up years and think "Wow, my mom really went the extra mile for us..." I WANT my children to grow up with traditions, with little fun things they can pass onto their children. I think back on my childhood, and can count on one hand the WRAPPED gifts I received growing up. Oh, I never lacked any of the basic needs, in fact, I was quite privileged as a teenager. But I always was sad and depressed when ever there was a party going on, yearning to be in the classroom with out shame or fear of discovery for participating in a 'pagan ritual'.

I don't want the reader (If there ever is one for this blog of mine) to go away thinking my parents were the biggest losers out there. They were not, just did the best they thought they could. They made choices based on their beliefs and enforced them, just as I do based on my beliefs for my girls. Hopefully I am more educated and can raise self confident happy children who will grow up and lead productive happy lives... I think that is one of the main goals of living in this mortality.

And somewhere along the lines... I'll get that Valentine... :)