Handmade Valentines and Lone Wolf McQuade

It is the Love Day again.

The chocolate roses are sticking their heads out, red and pink clothes are catching the eyes since Christmas, the cards are shouting from card aisle every possible love message. From a sweet romantic one to the rated for mature audience only. Love books are on display in the libraries, the out of uniform day is welcomed by some students and the restaurants are booked. 
The sitcoms are in their annual same repertoire and even Biggest Loser had the Valentine theme in the last broadcast, never mind that it was recorded at least 3, 4 months ago.

And there is the Valentine card exchange in the classrooms. I do not like the generalization of this cute holiday, I find it a lie. But in the spirit of forgiveness and "nobody left behind" my children made cards for everybody on the list.

I must say that by Tuesday there was no talk about the cards. I thought about being tough this time, and let the girls forget about them. I would expect tears on Thursday morning, but they have to learn by their mistakes. My girls being procrastinates as they are, reminded me late on Tuesday that they made shopping requests. We were debating between the store bought: fairy, spiderman, hello kitty, pet lovers, scooby doo, you name it, valentines. They chose the handmade ones. It took much more effort and work, but they came quite nicely. What I like the most about them, that girls decorated them according to their personal interests.
So there were Manga drawings on Kateri's and sea creatures on Zuzanna's .

The red mess, glue sticks, markers, sharpies and scissors on the family table and the peaceful and fun conversations that we shared were even better. Jacob found out that using scissors can be quite fascinating. He tried to cut the table leg off, fortunately, he did not succeed:)

Some time ago one of my, then, friends said that she does not celebrate Valentine's Day. For her, every single day is a day to show love . While I do not mind making the day extra special,  I have to agree with her. I would like my family to see my love in every bread I bake, every lunch I make, every book I read and lullaby to sing. I would like to love more the daily work of my husband's to support our family. I want to see love that Kiki is sharing when she is spending time with her little brother, helping love of Zuzia's, and loving smile on my little boy's face.

 I did not buy new pinkish, reddish shirts. The children haven`t gotten another bear or bunny or cat or something else that collects dust and makes my kids sneeze in the winter.
We have not booked a restaurant and I did not put cute notes or candy into their lunchboxes...
But heart shaped raspberry, strawberry pancakes topped with real whipped cream and a promise of easy day in school make the day already fun. The heart shaped balloon is floating on the first floor and keeps my little man very happy. I have indulged this much, courtesy of $1 store:)

  

 

My little valentines will have their macaroni and cheese dinner, and brownies afterwards because it is their favorite.  And after lovingly cutting my husband's hair because I like to think he does not trust anybody else with his hair, we will settle down for a movie, "Lone Wolf McQuade". If you ask why, it is because that was a movie that we watched on our first date ( year 1989 !) and because Andrzej just found it on Netflix. Frankly, I find it quite romantic:)

So go and love your family on this day and any other:)

 

Kinga.