February 14, 2008

• <3 Happy Valentines Day <3

  When I was in elementary school (last week?), there were 3 holidays in February. We got a day off for Lincoln's birthday on the 12th, and February vacation always centered around Washington's birthday on the 22nd. The third, of course, was Valentines Day. I liked that one the best.

  We didn't get the day off, but we got to celebrate with all our friends. A week or so before the day itself, Dad would bring home a cellophane packet of about two dozen little cards for each of us. They were printed on one side only, with animals or cartoon characters. They had very simple expressions on them. No one was declaring their undying love and devotion with these. There were lots of corny ones, like: "please Bee-e Mine" or "Hoppy Valentines Day" or I like you Bear-y much, Valentine". More often than no they needed to be punched out of a sheet of five or six. I still remember how frustrated I used to get when they'd tear or have a jagged edge. Our teachers would give us a list of all the kids in our class. Yes, boys in one column and girls in the other. The rule was that you had to give one to everyone, but of course you could always say that you didn't have enough to give pecker-head Donald Smallidge one.(blecch!).

  One of the best parts of this festive occasion was our Valentines 'mail-box'. We decorated ours at home where there was more stuff to put on it. The hardest part was finding shoe boxes for each of us. I always tried to hang on to the one that my new school shoes came in, but unless I had hid it well, the brothers would have disappeared with it, long ago. Some years, all there was, was a Kleenex box. Even if you had to deal with box-less tissues for a couple of weeks, sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Actually, they worked out pretty well. The mail slot was already there, and you just had to reach in to haul out your cards. Tissue paper or kleenex, crayons, cotton balls, paper doilies, oh what fun. {It was probably the beginnings of my crafty nature, and I still have difficulty throwing out a shoe box}. Then, on the day, we'd line them all up and oooh and aaah over them (the girls out loud - the boys snickering quietly). Row by row we'd get a turn at filling our classmates boxes, as we ooh'd some more. The first thing everyone did when they got their Valentines, was count them. More often than not, everyone got the 'right' number of envelopes. It's a lovely memory.

  An even lovelier memory is/was/are all my Valentine's memories with My Funniest Valentine. When we were first going out, we'd have some kind of a dinner thing and maybe out dancing with friends and just your normal, that passed for romantic, evening. After the kid was born, we pretty much stuck close to home and hubs would always come through the door with flowers and a heart box of candy for me, and a smaller box of candy for Ann. After I became allergic to flowers, he switched over to cute little houseplants...and candy. Then, he took pity on the poor murder victims (I couldn't help it, I never got enough water as a child), and we were down to just candy. My 'gift' was a card and a Sunday dinner on a Tuesday night type deal.

  When the kid finally moved on (not to be mean) we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Yeah, sure candy's always good, and so is a nice dinner to acknowledge the occasion, but there's no offense taken, if you take your plate in to play computer games while I watch Jeopardy. About 10 years ago, I found a Valentine that I really liked - very plain and simple. Hubs liked it,too...so, the next year he gave it back to me. This just amused us both on so many levels - Hallmark's not getting any more of our valentines bucks. We passed this back and forth for the rest of our lives. Except for one, every Valentines night ended with a variation of the same celebration. All 33! Some years were more festive than others, but there has never been any doubt who my Valentine is. The year that was the exception, is the year I ended up in the hospital, and the only food in the house was the Valentine candy. Poor hubs.

  So, there you have it. My life of Valentines. You should have so much fun.....Happy, Happy,Joy,Joy...

  Ta
  <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

  • 4:59 pm
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