happy {early} valentine's day!!

As a kid I loved Valentine's Day because I came home from school with a box full of goodies! What kid wouldn't love that?!

As a teenager I loved Valentine's Day because if I had a boyfriend it was all gifts and chick flicks and making out. And if I didn't, then the girlfriends and I would curl up and watch chick flicks and hate on the boys who weren't interested in us.

As a wife I love Valentine's Day because it's an automatic romantic date night! Now, I have to say that I have the absolute most perfect husband for me! He, himself, may not be perfect, but I couldn't have picked anyone better for me. And there are so many things he does so much better than most husbands! I won't bother to list them because then you'll all be super jealous. :) But like I said, he's not perfect. One of his very few flaws is that is isn't always the most super romantic guy in the world. Sometimes he needs a little nudging. And I'm okay with that. I am already a pushy, controlling person, so we are a great fit. This is why I love Valentine's Day. Because on Valentine's Day he never fails. He always pulls something out of his hat. I love that!!

And now, as a mother I love Valentine's Day because I get to share it with two more people who I couldn't love any more!! It's so fun to see them get excited over such simple things. Like last night while we were getting ready after baths. A Charlie Brown Valentine was on and they were thrilled! Little special things like that make them so happy! They L.O.V.E. holidays! And I love them! :)

But now I have ONE complaint. COMMERCIALIZATION!! Ugh!! Why can't Valentine's Day be about handing out handmade cards and having heart shaped pancakes for breakfast? It's not about chocolate and roses. It's about showing our love for those around us.

Why am I complaining about this? Payson had her preschool Valentine's Day party today. (Since V Day is on Sunday and they only have preschool T/W/Th.) Her teacher let us know in advance and sent home a list of the kids in her class. There are only 8 total. No big deal. So we got her Valentine's together. I spent $1 on a 12 pack of heart shaped suckers and we made handmade cards for her class.

Now, this is not the first holiday party her class has had. I knew what to expect. For some reason, the mothers of these kids go ALL OUT for every holiday. These are great women! I love them! Most of them are in my ward and we are close friends. But each holiday (so far Halloween and Christmas) they have brought the expected holiday treat...times TWENTY! They bring BAGS full of candy and toys for each child. Like little snack bags and gift bags. They are cute. And it's sweet. But really? Is it necessary? They probably only spent around $20 for the entire class, and I can definitely afford to keep up. But that's the point! I don't want to keep up!

On Halloween I brought simple treats for each kid. Everyone else brought big treat bags. I thought I'd do better for Christmas and so, per Payson's request, we made white chocolate dipped pretzels with Christmas sprinkles and put them in cute little baggies with fun Christmas tags. They were still the smallest treat there.

So for Valentine's Day I realized that I don't care about keeping up. I don't like the idea that my child will feel like she deserves all these treats. It's just over the top and unnecessary. And it is not in keeping with everything else I've been trying to change lately. I'm in the process of simplifying our home and our lives. Why should this be any different?

So this is what Payson and I put together for her Valentine's party today:


Simple and adorable. We didn't even bother with store-bought-cartoon-character cards this year. I got the idea from a couple of other blogs I read and took a picture of Payson with her fist in the air. We added the text in Picasa. It says, "I'm a sucker for you! Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Payson". I printed the picture on computer paper and cut them out. We dug through some old scrapbook paper scraps and Payson picked one color for the girls and one for the boys. They matched, but the one for the boys had more brown. :) She inked the edges of the paper and pictures and then she glued the pictures down. I cut slits above and below her fist with my exact-o-knife and we slid the suckers in. And voila! A beautiful, handmade by my preschooler, Valentine's card! And it even includes candy. (Because let's face it. If you show up without any candy you're a total loser. And my daughter is no loser!)

Anyway, Payson had the smallest Valentine. (You should see the huge bag of candy and dollar store plastic crap toys she came home with! EIGHT kids in that class! Ridiculous!) But it was the cutest. And it was made with LOVE. Not money. Less than $1 for ALL of these babies! And Payson was SO proud of it! And I made my statement. I will not succumb to the commercialization of holidays anymore! :)

(Seriously, though. Aren't those adorable?!)