My History of Not-So-Funny Valentines

Growing up I had a hate/hate relationship with Valentine's Day.  The impending anxiety over IF anyone would send me a Valentine (be they paper She-Ra cards, or flowers, or... diamonds) was as equally depressing as the reality that, in fact, I had not received the coveted She-Ra card.  And especially not a diamond.  Not even a cubic zirconia.


That popularity contest lingered as I got older.  I would sometimes fake bouts of diarrhea or leprosy, anything really, to get out of sitting in the classroom at the end of the school day to hear all the popular girls get called to the front desks to receive their 4 dozen exotic flowers, or their trips to Tahiti that their sweethearts of 4 1/2 months had gotten them.

I know.  I had issues.

But then I met my sweetheart and Valentine's day was a mess for a whole other list of reasons.

Namely my outrageously high expectations didn't mesh with his not-a-romantic-bone-in-his body low key personality.  So needless to say our first 15 few Valentine's Days were somewhat disappointing for BOTH of us. 

As a mom you might think that I have had some opportunities to redeem Valentine's day as I live vicariously through The Yahoos.

Yeah, not so much.

I mean we homeschool.  What kind of Valentine's card exchange is that?  And we certainly don't need another reason to make cookies and candy.  In our home Tuesdays are holiday enough for us to throw down a bag of M&Ms.  So I shamefully have to say that Valentine's Day has ranked right up there with Arbor Day in our fave holidays.

But this year I pulled myself up by the bootstraps, rolled out of bed, and slapped on some creativity.  History consisted of reading about the roots of Valentine's Day and the real St. Valentine.  We made a bouquet of marshmallow candies.  And then I threw some mod podge, glue sticks, scissors, stickers, and construction paper at them and told them to go for it.

Here's what it looked like:

SOUR!!!

My favorite is the one with the popcorn shrimp on top

Ok, there you have it.  My first attempt at making Valentine's Day a little less traumatic for my offspring than it was for me.  

Now.....what to do for Arbor Day????