Happy Valentine's Weekend!
Here's a natural valentine I spotted on one of my walks some time last year. I've been saving it for this day. A day late, I know, but we can celebrate love any day, can't we? As far as I know, nobody carved this heart in this tree. It just happened. A gift of nature. But then again, maybe a romantic squirrel chewed off the bark for his squirrel sweetheart. But however it got there, I thought it was neat. It's actually along the road in front of a neighbor's house and not too long ago, he cut it down. So alas, the heart is gone now, but we still have the picture.
I've always liked Valentine's Day. I used to be a room mother at the schools when my children were young, and Valentine's was my favorite holiday party. Every kid got cards and cupcakes. Of course, things might have been simpler then. Certainly, there weren't dozens of bouquets delivered to the schools for this or that sweetheart the way I've heard happens now. Just cute little cards with hearts and some of those heart shaped conversation hearts. Pure sugar, so naturally I liked them. The pink ones were definitely best. :)
Some people say Valentine's Day can be sad when a person isn't part of a couple. It is nice to have somebody giving you flowers and candy. But I like to think of Valentine's Day as more than a day for sweethearts. It's a day to think about love in all its wonderful ways. A good day to share hugs with your kids and grandkids. Well, any day is a good day for that. It's a great time to share a special day out with a friend or to call your mother or a special aunt. It's a fine time to read 1 Corinthians 13 or 1 John 4 in the Bible. It's a good day to remember all the ways you are loved and to remember all the people you have loved even if some of them are no longer here with you. And if you don't have somebody to buy you flowers or candy, it's a perfect time to treat yourself to the flowers and candy you like best.
And it's a good time to share a crazy picture of a heart on a tree that made me feel some love for nature.
I do appreciate all of you who have volunteered to help me out with my upcoming book release. I am working to meet an editing deadline on a book and haven't had time to respond to each of you as yet. But I will next week. I've got all your names written down and I have to say you were like a special Valentine to me with your readiness to offer to help. Thank you so much.
Now if you have any spare chocolate laying around, savor a few bites and enjoy the memory of a happy day.
Thanks for reading.
"Be Mine, Valentine."
"I Woof You."
"You're purr-fect, Valentine!"
"You're doggone cute."
"We're heart to heart friends."
I know Valentine's Day is past and it's 50 weeks before it shows up again. The candy's gone. The roses have drooped their heads. The cards are beginning to look like clutter. The diamonds are probably still glittering in the rings and necklaces if jewelry was in your Valentine box. But I'm not ready to let Valentine's Day slide away just yet. I tied in Valentine's Day with my Summer of Joy Celebration Giveaway. Two more days until I draw the winners. I'll announce them here on Sunday if all goes according to plan.
But first let's enjoy a few Valentine stories. I didn't have a great response with the Valentine stories the way I have with other fun stories you've shared. Grandmother stories. Best or worst gift stories. Christmas gifts remembered. Those are some of the stories I've asked for in contests in the past. And I got story after story and loved it. But when I asked for Valentine stories, they came in few and far between. I'm not going to say romance is missing. Instead I'm going to go along with the reader who said she had plenty of Valentine stories but they were private. But a few of you did offer up some stories and I enjoyed reading them all. I shared some of them already and thought I'd let you enjoy a couple more tonight.
First let me say that I didn't expect all the stories to be about romantic love and they weren't. Linda shares some fun Valentine school day memories.
"My valentine story involves memories from childhood. I grew up in a similar small town like Jocie. In elementary school we would decorate shoe boxes with a slit in the top and on Valentine's day we would go around our classroom putting little Valentines in each box. I don't remember if we had to do one for everyone in the classroom, but hopefully that's the way it was so there would be no hurt feelings. Also, someone's mom would make cupcakes for our afternoon snack. Back in the day, life seemed so much simpler because decorating the boxes came from our imagination and what we had on hand and the little Valentines came from the 'dime' store."
Oh yes, Linda, I remember those Valentine parties. I had some myself when I was in school, but I best remember being the room mother for my kids and helping with their Valentine parties. I was that mama who made the cupcakes even if I wasn't great at decorating them. During my years of room mothering, Valentine's was always my favorite party of the year. The kids did decorate shoe boxes and they did have ten-cent store Valentines for each child in their classes. I kept my oldest son's Valentine box for years. He made it out of a boot box. Guess he was expecting a lot of Valentines. I thought I still had it, but when I went to search for it to take a picture, I couldn't find it. Isn't that the way of it? You keep something for years and then you finally talk yourself into getting rid of it and a year or two later, you miss it. :)
And here's a cute idea from Amy to make any holiday fun for your kids or grandkids if you like to cook. She shared this here on a different post, but if you're like me, you don't always read through the comments. And if you did read the comments, hope you don't mind a repeat.
"I don't necessarily have many really memorable Valentine's days. I guess I lead a boring life. I do remember my Mom always making a fun dessert for us, and I've tried to carry this tradition on with my family. One year I took it a step further and created a special restaurant for my family. I made up menus and let everyone choose from two different entrees, their choice of salads and side dishes and choice of desserts. The kids loved it and requested the same experience for Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner that year."
And you know what? Someday when somebody asks them to remember a special Valentine's day, that might be the very one they remember. What fun! Hope my grandkids don't read this. They'll be after me to give it a try. Maybe we'll have a go at it this summer for an everyday party time.
What desserts would you want on your Valentine party menu? I'll take cherry cheesecake or strawberries on a slice of Angel Food cake. Yum!
Thanks for reading and remember, you can leave a comment to be in a special drawing for a Hollyhill book or your choice of one of my other books. That's true over on Jocie's Heart of Hollyhill blog too. She's sharing another excerpt from Summer of Joy all about Wes's story about Bug Juice and Jupiterian Fropples. Wes has some great Jupiter stories. But to be in the drawing there or here, you have to leave a comment with a way for me to get in touch with you should you win.
Thanks for reading!
