Valentine's Day Memories

As a small schoolgirl in the 1960s, I think my favorite holiday of all was Valentine's Day.  I had the best time going with my mother to the Five & Dime (a small drug store) and purchasing several boxes of Valentine's cards to hand out to all of my elementary school classmates. 

 

My mother and I would scatter the cards out on the kitchen table and I would pick the exact card I wanted to give to each classmate.  And, if it was a classmate that was my friend, I made sure it was an extra special card from the box.  I would sign my name to all the cards, stuff the cards in their respective envelopes, and personalize the envelope.  Then off to school I would go with a lunchbag full of about 30+ Valentine's cards and little bags of candy.

Class was always the most fun on Valentine's day.  We would talk about what Valentine's day meant to us, make cards in class to take home to our parents, and then we would all share in a snack of cupcakes, candy, and fruit punch.  I can still remember the sights and sounds of those days some 40+ years ago. 

There was always a lot of laughter and silliness as we handed out our cards to all the children in our class and our teacher.  I can recall always hoping the teacher would like my card the best.  As a child, I find that those little things were important to me and I try to remember that feeling with my own children, knowing that when they make a picture for me or a card, just how important it is that I express joy and delight in their creation and expression of love towards me.  These are the things that memories are made of, and I'm all for making memories with my children.

All in all, I think those days in elementary school were my most memorable for this special day.  I honestly cannot think of a Valentine's day that was special as I got older.  Even today, Big Bear is doing a few things on the honey-do list, I've been doing laundry and cleaning up, then we built a fire.  Sarah has a friend over for a sleepover and a movie, but other than that, we are just relaxing at home. 

In several hours we were going to take the children out for dinner too.  For me this is a perfect Valentine's Day spent surrounded by the people that I love and adore.

I hope you too, are having an especially wonderful day with the people (or that one special person) that is dearest to your heart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,