Today we made some Valentine decorations.

I don’t particularly think that Valentine’s day is a “must-celebrate” holiday.  I’ve always thought it was quite overrated, really, but this year I’ve been more open to the idea of celebrating a random, over-advertised holiday.  Why?  Because it’s something that the kids can celebrate with ALL of their friends.  Katie came home from school Monday with a list attached to her homework.  On the list is the name of every child in her class.  She sat down at the table right away and declared that she HAD to make all of the Valentines RIGHT NOW.  It took some convincing, but I talked her down to 3-4 a day.  Did she want to make them the same?  No.  She is making a personalized card with a personalized note on each card – for each of the 30 kids in her class.  Goodness.  Dedication.

This has inspired the younger girly to want to make Valentine’s too, but her focus is smaller – she has mostly made them for Katie and Allen – it’s pretty cute.  There are little girls with heart shaped heads being drawn all over the place this week.

Allen hasn’t said much about Valentine’s day – I’d chalk that up to him being a boy and not being interested, but I know the real reason.  It’s because he has inherited my fabulous ability to procrastinate until very literally the last minute before he decides something needs to be done, and then to freak out about how he doesn’t have time to do it, it’s the end of the world, he’s failed, and now there is no reason to do it at all.  Hm.   Perhaps He and I should work on that together huh?

Anyway, all that to say, I’m glad that my kids can celebrate a holiday, even one completely overly commercialized, which is completely centered around love.  Loving not just your family, but your friends too, and actively telling them that you care for them.

“We Love, because God first loved us” – 1 John 4:19