Well if you know me at all, you know that I am a sucker for traditions, and good family traditions at that! So this got me thinking, what kind of spin can we put on Valentines Day to make it fun to celebrate and bring meaning into it with our kids?
Disclaimer: Valentines has never really been a huge and extravagant event for us but seeing how fun and special this is for our kids, it really does make it feel special for us too.
In short, our new Valentines family tradition is a fancy restaurant meal that we make and prepare together at home. We get all fancy and dressed up, and we share homemade valentines that we’ve made for each other, detailing the reasons why we love each other! A little cheesy, but sometimes you gotta embrace the cheese right haha ;)
This years meal we are planning to do steak, fancy mashed potatoes, pan fried green beans, strawberry spinach salad, along with dinner rolls. These are all of our kids favourites, even the green beans! They love them! Of course we drink juice out of wine glasses, which makes even orange juice taste more fancy ;) Lets not forget dessert! We are going with chocolate fondue this year! I don't know whose more excited about this, Curtis or the kids haha!
Table scape is very important to me, and maybe the most fun part. We light the candles, lay down the lace table cloth, set out the pretty plates. Each place setting is labeled with the persons name, and pile of valentines waiting for them to read, sitting on their plate. To finish it all off we've got cloth napkins. This is a big deal because its one of the few times a year that the kids are allowed to use them and they love it!
Dress code is black tie only. This means that Curtis and I dust off our award show outfits from years past (High Valley days), the kids love this and its fun for us too :) Our littles wear their fanciest clothes, the ladies of the house paint their nails, curl their hair and of course, red lipstick ;)
I think my favourite part of the night is reading the valentines cards from everyone. It makes my heart weepy to see the love and effort the kids have put into each card, and for them to read the special things that have been written about them. This is where my mama heart bursts a little. I don't think we can affirm each other enough in our families. Reminding each other exactly what we love about the next person, you can see it put the wind in their sails as they hear these affirmations. I love it.
Valentines Day, what is often seen as an over commercialized holiday, has now become a fun way for our family to break up a long dreary winter with a touch of fun, "cheese" and celebration. What do you guys do to celebrate Valentines Day? Do you love it? Hate it? Go all out? Feel indifferent? Or what day even is Valentines Day? ;)
Love, Curtis and Myranda
