the best valentine gift

Today is Valentine's Day.  I used to hate this day.  A girlfriend and I even had an anti-Valentine's "Eat Pink" party in college one year.  I don't hate the day anymore, though I still view it with skepticism.  The massive amounts of money spent on jacked-up flowers and candy just seems silly.  My Man and I rarely do anything significant for Valentine's because it's just not how we roll.  But you know what?  Celebrating love is a worthwhile endeavor, whatever the day.  And making some special family memories is good, important even, for all of us.  So for today, I will squash my skepticism and work on celebrating our family.

We did make Valentines for the Kiddoes classmates, of course.  But we didn't buy the boxed Valentines.  Oh no... that would be too easy!  Instead both kids and I made some crayon rocks for The Boy's preschool friends, and printed out some online valentines to go with them.  So cute!  Though I'm sure the preschoolers won't really care.  It was a fun project, and I think the crayons turned into beautiful little works of art. 

For The Girl's Valentines, I found online Valentines that were made in support of the organization Love146, which fights child sex trafficking.  So The Girl picked her favorite Valentines to print (really much cuter than store-bought ones), and we made a donation to Love146 rather than to Wal-mart. 

On the homefront, we did have some small plans for the day.  I say "did" because one of our plans was to go out to McAllister's tonight (kids eat free night!), but The Boy woke up throwing up.  So no going out for us.  Maybe we'll have Chinese take-out instead. 

Still, we plan to continue with our Valentine Hunt.  Yes, hunt.  This was all The Girl's idea.  A couple weeks ago she started making Valentines for each of us and then hid them for us to find on Valentine's Day.  Apparently, she was worried we wouldn't be able to find them because she also made little cut-out hearts that she taped to the wall or object near where she hid them!  So The Man and I have also made Valentines to hide, and hopefully everyone will be well enough this afternoon for our first (annual?) Valentine Hunt. 

My Valentines are simple affairs - just Hershey Miniatures that I wrapped in colored paper (one color for each family member).  I wrote on each paper something that I love about that person.  That's it.  Easy-peasy.  But who doesn't love chocolate and little love notes?!  Well, actually I know someone who doesn't love chocolate (I do not understand), but there's no one like that in this family!

Our Valentine's Day will not include flowers or jewelry or a fancy dinner.  But it will be spent with the ones I love most, in sickness and in health.  And that's the best gift of all.