I was feeling incredibly tired and worn out. Not the best recipe for romantic! But I wanted to make the day special anyway.
I have come to the realisation that with four children, a romantic dinner for two was not going to be easy to achieve. Infact, I debated if it were really the best thing to be hoping to achieve. There seems to be so much pressure to make it an 'alone and blissfully romantic with your spouse' day. I figured that was nice, but my marriage has grown into a 6 person strong force field of love. So I wanted to embrace those little additions and not even give discontent a chance to creep in.
So I decided to try start a tradition of a whole family 'I love you' day. If my husband liked it, it could maybe stick around permanently. (Which he did! hurray!) Not that we only love each other one day a year. But it would be a special day to show our affection and solidarity as a family, in a purposeful celebration.
So we made valentines day themed placemats and laminated them. The kitchen was a mess of glue and pink and purple paper, but they had a lot of fun!
Next, we decorated some cake boxes to give to another member of the family. We baked some cupcakes. They didn't have patty pans, so they were a flop!
But thankfully we had a lovely lovely lady from church bring us dinner to give me a few days to settle in after the funeral, without cooking as well. So we had a very yummy dinner delivered, and chocolate brownies!!! Saved the day!! The brownies went in each box instead. Yummy!
But I didn't do all this because (to borrow some words from Rachel Jankovic) I wanted to be 'that mum' who makes Valentines Day awesome. I did this because I want my children to grow up in a home where they know that they are loved. And where that love included them in a very visible way on Valentines Day. I want them to be able to have fond memories of the time we made cupcakes that ended up smashed cupcakes, etc.
We had a nice day as a family. It wasn't over the top. It was love in the every day things. It was love that gives up ideals and embraces the multitude.
It was simple.
But the best sort of love always is.
As the bible says, '..better a meal of herbs where love is, than a feast with strife!'
I hope you enjoyed your day too!
God bless,
Sara
This is a lot like the way my family celebrated Valentine's day throughout my childhood. My mom would get out heart templates, coloured paper, old wallpaper samples and loads of glitter for us to make cards for each other. I remember carefully guarding my secret letters until the day arrived! We'd have a special breakfast of crepes with whipped cream and some red fruit. (usually strawberries).
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing back memories. :)