Growing up I thought it was about waiting patiently, or pining away rather impatiently, for your prince-charming to come by on a white horse with chocolates in a red-heart-shaped cardboard box (the bigger the better) and cut long-stem roses to sweep you off your feet in love, admiration, and fantastic fantasy. *blink, blink* back to reality…I don’t like horses, have been afraid of them since I was 5 years old and watched the movie The Black Stallion, most drugstore chocolates are wrapped in not-so-eco-friendly packaging, contain tons of preservatives and artificial colors and flavors, and those cut long-stemmed roses, I’d rather have a couple lovely rose bushes out back, thank you.
February 14th is actually the Roman Catholic feast day to celebrate the Saint Valentine(s), neither of whom were linked to anything romantic. So, we are Catholic, but where does that leave me, a non-cradle Catholic, and our family? What am I going to do this Valentine’s day with my family? What do I want my children to come away from this holiday learning, feeling, and doing? Well, perhaps we can adopt some of the soul-ful elements about connecting with those you love from the commercial holiday and start to build some of new family traditions unique to our family.
If you have been reading here for a bit, you know I am most certainly a planner…so, in the planning mode, I plan to make this February 14th about sweetness just like this:
- send snail-mail hand-written notes to those we love and admire and tell them why we do
- document what we love and admire about these special people so we can remember these wonderful bits for years to come
- create a few heart-themed surprises like heart-shaped gluten-free cookies and stuffed heart pockets filled with sweet treats and trinkets we can keep close to our hearts when we are remembering who loves us
What do you think about Valentine’s day? What do you do with your family to make it a special time.
P.S. These little hearts are inspired by SouleMama’s The Family Heart idea in Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures
