My husband and I have a slew of holidays and anniversaries that we acknowledge but, Valentines Day is not one we really celebrate in a romantic way. Valentines Day is for the kids and here is the reason:
My husband and I started dating on January 1, 2010. We were inseparable from the start and I felt like our first Valentines Day would be this crazy romantic (first time) declaration of love.
I struggled for days about what to write in his giant homemade card. I settled on “you make me really really happy,” or something to that effect. Anyway, his card also did not say “I love you.” He, in true Jake fashion, decided to wait 3 days until February 17th to say it. I eventually forgave him for the undue stress and well, here we are.
Maybe I have some stale feelings in need to check or maybe it is not the first Valentines Day that was awful, it is probably the sum of all of them(before kids). The wild expectations and let down, I quickly learned that I needed to get over this one little day and look at the big, love drenched, picture.
Enter: kids.
Having kids changed the Valentines game for me (us). I decided even though Jake and I did not go all out for one another we could totally get behind going Valentines crazy for our kids. So that is what we do.
We make heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, we give them small gifts, and celebrate all day. Then always end the day with their favorite meal (more heart shaped food) and chocolate covered strawberries. I really love going all out, it makes me so happy. This year will be even more fun because they are getting a little older, so we will introduce some new Valentines traditions.
Here are some new ideas we will try this year:
- Cut out hearts from colorful paper and write things we love about each other.
- Make and decorate heart shaped sugar cookies.
- Let each kid pick out an activity they love that we can do as a family.
- Make homemade Valentines for friends, family, and Huck’s classmates.
- Make heart shaped dog treats for our dogs.
Needless to say I am glad Valentines Day has come to be an enjoyable holiday for our family. I am already looking forward to celebrating this year! What are some fun things you do with your kids on Valentines Day?
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