Valentine’s Day 10 years ago and Valentine’s Day today look very different in our house. The main difference; we have kids. Valentine’s Day has gone from a romantic day where my husband and I can stare into each other’s eyes and profess our deep love and devotion (yeah right. Like we were ever that sappy), to a family day. But to be honest, I think I prefer it that way. My husband and I still make the time to go on a date, have good non-superhero/non-princess related conversation, and exchange gifts or cards. But the day itself is now a family day. We focus more on how much we love each other as a family. It’s kind of great.
One thing we do together each year is make a Valentine’s Day decoration. I’m not really sure how this tradition started. I’m sure one day years ago I was forcing my children to endure full minutes of torture by taking them kicking and screaming to Hobby Lobby with me to pick up craft supplies; probably for something for their school… I’m sure one of them saw a craft and said, “This looks like fun! Can we do this together? Please? Please? Please? Please? Etc? Etc? Etc?…
So long story short (too late. Sorry), we make a craft together every year.
Last year, we made “love hearts.” Before you quite reading due to the sappy title of this project, hear me out. Each of us got a chipboard heart and painted it with things we love. Since we use Valentine’s Day to celebrate different forms of love, this included people, toys, foods, etc. It was a ton of fun! And afterward, we had an awesome decoration that will have sentimental value for years to come.
We started with our backgrounds. I let the kids go to town with whatever paint they wanted, but I tried to give my husband and I a more subtle background.
Then we got to work on the pictures. My daughter decided to paint animals she loved. She used our how-to-draw-animals book. And before you say anything; yes, that is a crab and a dolphin. Those other things are her brother, my husband and me. I think she captured us well.
After our pictures were finished and dried, my husband drilled holes in the tops and bottoms (just the top on the bottom heart) with a standard drill and bit. Then we tied them together using pieces of festive twine. It’s festive because it’s red and white. Isn’t it nice of Valentine’s Day to use the same colors as Christmas so we can buy Christmas stuff on super discount and use it for Valentine’s Day?!
Now this hangs proudly on our wall as a reminder of the things we love. And before you think my husband is a weirdo who has a thing for monkeys, geese and fish; those animals are a representation of family members. We’re really not freaks… I swear!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Go celebrate what you love!
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