Valentine's Day is not a day Eric and I have ever found romantic. We celebrated the first one we had together as a dating couple by simply giving cards and making dinner together. And I told him before the next one came around that I didn't think it was necessary to celebrate it as a couple because I don't find anything about it romantic. I think the random flowers, surprise dates, bubble baths, Ghiradelli intensely dark chocolates, pillow fights, tickle fests, dancing in the living room, chasing each other around the house, sitting outside sipping wine and chatting is perfectly romantic on the daily basis. And no holiday or greeting card company had to cheesily encourage us to do these things. We don't think it is wrong to celebrate the holiday. In fact we still exchange cards....though we kind of pick fun at it, together! Haha! It would just be a completely unromantic waste of a day if Eric and I observed it as a day "we have to have something for each other." That is what works in our marriage, celebrating love truly on a daily and even spontaneous basis out of our own desires to keep that fire roaring and growing between us, no matter how insanely busy we are. We are the most overwhelmingly busy we have ever been on our lives together and I can honestly say, I have never felt more in love, closer, or loved by Eric than I do now in this time. When you are married to your best friend and favorite person, you feel recognized and smothered in love daily! The things that people "do" for Valentine's...we are fortunate to do very regularly already. So we feel we don't need to do it just because the marketing world told us to. But that is just us. And really every person in my family. We just don't find it romantic for couples. But we celebrated it with Ellie! And the fur babes!
I find it incredibly fun for kids!! What a cute holiday for children to share love and learn about love and service and kindness. I cannot wait until Ellie is old enough to pick out her own Valentine's and exchange them with friends. Well, I can because that means she will be older, but you catch my drift. Making Valentine's treats, exchanging little cards, and wearing red and hearts is super adorable!! Since this is a day people associate with love, I wanted to embrace that as a chance to teach Ellie how to love others. We know that some people look forward to this day as for some it may be the only chance somebody thinks to "love" on them. First, we started with the definition of love.
I read her the scripture, 1 John 4:8 which says, "He who does not love does not know God, for GOD IS LOVE!" We talked about why in fact God is love, what that meant. It means what it says. I told her about the ways we can love our neighbors, serve God by serving and loving others. To show others love is to show others God. This should also be done on a daily basis. To show her one very simple task of love, we made 4 batches of brownies. Because, you know, food is the 6th love language they left out. We made them for two service providers who show love and devotion and selflessness on a daily basis as should always be done. The Easley Fire Department and the Easley Police Department. We made 2 other batches for different departments at Eric's work. We wanted to love on Daddy, his friends, and people who work hard daily and are just precious souls.
We made Daddy a Valentine with Ellie's hands and feet. We read a Valentine's Day book about a grumpy monster who nobody offered any love or a Valentine. But, one little person finally extended the grump monster some love and he was so very happy and cheerful. This was to explain to Ellie that all people need to be shown love and grace. Maybe they are grumpy because nobody has done so?!
"Flicker" is what Eric called the heartbeat he saw on the ultrasound monitor in the ER the second time we were told we may be losing Ellie. Flicker...because her heart was flickering. :)
We also went to the library for story time with our friends and made a valentine and read three stories about showing others love.
Ellie was so busy learning to love others and showing love (between naps and meals), that I forgot the whole day to even give her the Valentine from Daddy and I! We gave it to her the next day. She tried to eat it.
So while Eric and I don't care for the holiday romantically, we love that our daughter can partake in the holiday to learn about love and how to make somebody feel special, loved, and most importantly, to show them God- Who Himself, is love.
Eric helped me make Ellie's Valentine's cards. See....we have fun and do quirky cheesy romance literally daily....naturally!! So blessed God gave me my best friend to marry and to have an Ellie with!!
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