A Lovely Valentine's Day

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.  

~Author Unknown

When I was little, Valentine's Day meant waiting until sundown to leave anonymous cards and candy on the porches of neighbors and friends. We would ring the doorbell and run away to hide in the nearest bushes with a good view of the porch so we could watch with delight as our Valentine gifts were discovered. There was nothing extravagant about the paper doily hearts carefully decorated with Elmer's glue and glitter, nor was the random sweetheart candy taped to it anything fancy, but the excitement over the creation and delivery was something wonderful to look forward to every year.

As my favorite author says, "The world has moved on."  Kids no longer leave secret Valentines on porches, and the glue and glitter has given way to temporary tattoos and online codes redeemable for Justin Bieber photos.  As much as I love me a festive skull and heart crossbones tattoo, I really miss the old days. I miss Margie Duncan and Reita Mae opening their doors and smiling knowingly at the giggling bushes as they reach down to retrieve the homemade Valentines left on their porch steps. I miss licking the pink frosting off of Mom's perfect heart-shaped sugar cookies, and I miss the tradition of it all. (I just returned from a visit to Mom's house and she gave me a pink frosted cookie!)

The world has moved on...

I may not be a little kid anymore, but I do still think Valentine's Day can be fun if the focus is in the right place. I don't think we need to run out and buy expensive jewelry or boxes of candy. I think the best part about the holiday is making sure those around me know how much I love them and that I am constantly thinking about them.

How we celebrated this year: 

Almond Fudge dipped oreos with raspberry chocolate hearts.

We had the great fortune of celebrating our Valentine holiday a day early this year. I gave video games to the girls (Kinect dance and Mario Wii) and to the man (who wanted war games.. I know, I caved!), and Hubby generously gave me a professional size Kitchenaid fire engine red mixer. I can hardly wait to mix up a batch of bread dough in that bad boy! Hubby then rocked his amazing grilling skill while the girls and I took care of the rest. We had such a nice dinner together and afterward the girls and I dipped oreos in our almond fudge and then Carley drew raspberry chocolate hearts on them to complete the design.   The most important thing was that we were spending time together and I loved every minute!

This morning my adorable family were all up early and the girls  packaged up some of those yummy fudge oreos to give to friends. I hugged and kissed them as they each left for their day and I thought to myself how lucky I am to have a family that believes in hugs and kisses every day! My Hubby and my girls are my life. These wonderfully complicated creatures are the reason behind everything I do and I hope they know each and every day how much I treasure them.

Valentine's Day is a fun holiday, but I don't need to wait for one day each year to tell my favorite people how much I love and adore them. Aunt Dottie, this includes you too! I love you, I adore you, I am who I am because of you. Remember that today and every day thereafter. 

My dear family, you are loved!