Valentine’s Day was on a Thursday this year, which is generally a very busy day for us. So the kids and I baked, decorated and delivered our traditional sugar cookies on Wednesday afternoon, when everyone had school off. 
It is always so fun to hear the kids talk about the people they want to bring the cookies to. “Lars is my good friend, he always plays with me” and other such comments. They always make sure to decorate one cookie for each person in the family, and they are very specific about which cookies go to which person. Tasting a few samples is also pretty fun, 
along with the resultant sugar high. See evidence of this in photo above. 🙂
And happily, we were home before bedtime this year. 🙂 My favorite part of this tradition is how truly happy the recipients always are to receive our humble offerings. Many of the children have received beautiful thank you cards at school the next day. Which is exactly what this tradition is all about, spreading the love!
Valentine’s morning I hosted our traditional Valentine’s brunch with all the ladies. Some of the faces have changed over the years, as people move in and away, but it is always fun to get together and spend a morning eating delicious food and talking with good friends. I am so glad Julie S. brought this tradition with her from California.
Plus, it’s a good excuse for me to go hog wild decorating! 🙂 This year, I finally had my wits about me enough to make some little gifts for the ladies. Homemade peanut butter/chocolate hearts and a little felt heart bookmark wrapped up in these cute little boxes. I also used a heart ice cube tray to make little heart butter pats. And a new addition, the red heart-edged serving plates that I picked up at an after Christmas sale. (Don’t know why they were being sold as Christmas plates, maybe just because they were red?)
I don’t usually set as fancy a table as some others, but I was quite pleased with the overall look on this day.
There was sure lots of pink and red. haha! I was happy that almost everyone could make it. It’s sad enough to think of the ladies who aren’t there because they have moved away, I can’t bear missing out on ladies who live close by.
And the food was awesome as usual. My friends are all excellent cooks, which encourages me to up my game a bit when we get together. 🙂
That afternoon the kids enjoyed another special treat, special “heart” cupcakes. My friend Jessi gave us a little gift of a cake mix and frosting from the army base in a Valentine theme. I had seen a way to make the cupcakes heart shaped using marbles on Pinterest, so we thought we would try it. 
Yeah, this would qualify as a definite “fail”. They just looked like regular cupcakes with a dent in them. Not heart shaped at all. But they tasted delicious whatever their shape. Thanks, Jessi!
On this day of love, I am so thankful for all the people I have in my life who love me and who I can love. They are what makes life worth living. Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!