January 26, 2024
Spokane, WA
Greeting card holiday? So what?! Celebrate love? Yes, please! And why not? Love is in the air, right?! Plus, cupid brings fun gifts and leaves hearts ALL OVER the place! Wait...that doesn't happen at your house?! It totally should. On Valentine's Day, when my oldest was two, he woke up to find all the hearts, "Another heart! Another heart! Another heart!" Each new heart was such a surprise and he would do this over and over and over. He's going to love that I'm telling this story. Lucky for him, his sisters followed suit and did the exact same thing. For a solid toddler clean-up game later, we would play "go get all the hearts". The youngest caught on to this much earlier than the others, "No thanks. You go get them". The best part of all of this heart goodness though is when the kids start using the hearts they find to leave sweet messages...that may just come accompanied by juice in a Christmas cup with pineapple straws. Such a perfect love mash-up right there.
Growing up, cupid always came to visit. He brought underwear and cookies--you know, much like peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti and meatballs... underwear and cookies... ? During a discussion of valentine's, cupid, hearts, etc. my daughter asked who Cupid was. When I showed her the picture she said, "Momma! That baby has buns!" She's not wrong. Sort of an odd concept, but Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the pumpkins, the leprechauns...they all visit! This is where I start questioning my parenting...
The first couple years of kids being old enough to hand out Valentine's Day cards, I'd stress about having the kids write their name on each card. It was awful for all involved. I thought the answer was then to start the Valentine's Day cards earlier to make sure this wasn't a stressful process. That if I was really on top of things and planned it all out, everything would go smoothly (ha!ha!ha!). We know I'm a supporter of a well laid out plan, but even the best plans can go awry. What really worked was the approach of trace, copy or write your name once, and then mom will make copies and attach that lovely John Hancock to all the cards, melted crayon hearts, bookmarks, tattoos, stickers or whatever other little gift or trinket is included--We have done just about every kind possible.
These days, the hearts around the house still exist. The younger kids are excited while the older kids smile and exclaim for the youngers sake, "Wow! Look at all the hearts!" while being mostly excited for sugar cookies. The BEST sugar cookie recipe I have found is from Cake by Courtney with a super slight adaptation on the extract. It was posted in a previous blog along with the best fudge ever! This blog post is linked here OR just enter your email below and it'll arrive straight to your inbox!
My plan this year with Valentine's? Get them coming and don't stress about it. If you are in the same boat, then here are a variety of options your kids are sure to love. I omitted anything with sticky hands. You're welcome. Just click the button entitled "Valentine's Guide" (link no longer active) below. When the guide opens, just click on the item you'd like to check out!
Here on the farm, while it may seem premature to be thinking of flowers, January and February are when the farm activities start. We will begin planting lisianthus this weekend with eucalyptus and snapdragons soon to follow. With the last of the seed orders trickling in, we will give a once over to our seeding schedule and get planting. Currently, we are working on our 2024 farm offerings and kicking it off with a new gift card option that is perfect for that special someone! This gift card is linked here or just click on the photo below.
Now, my husband and I? Cards, small gift (maybe) and dinner at home. Nothing fancy, no reservations, sweats...my kind of night. What are your Valentine's Day traditions? Do you go out to dinner? Stay home? Maybe this is the year you make the cookies, cut out some paper hearts, or give a fun little valentine...just no sticky hands.
Enjoy!
~M
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