 Send a Catholic e-greeting
for Valentine's DayValentine's Far From Home
by Stephanie Olsen
"What shall we make grandma and grandpa for Valentine's Day?"
This is an oft-repeated question as February 14th draws near; and
despite being another highly commercialized holiday, it is still a
nice way for geographically separated families to touch base.
Although e-mail is invaluable, homemade cards from grandchildren -
gluey, misspelt and smudged, delivered in crumpled envelopes with
upsidedown stamps - are the wishes that will be caressed by gentle
hands, hung on the fridge under hatted cow magnets, and proudly shown
to passers-by.
My own daughter knows that her grandma is a jigsaw puzzle expert, so
she glued a teddy bear picture to a red construction paper heart, with
little messages of love written around the periphery. With great care,
tongue tip protruding to steady her hand, she then cut the artwork
into several large pieces. Proudly, dumping her homemade puzzle into
an envelope, we went to the post office hand in hand.
We press flowers, collected on warm walks and summer picnics,
haphazardly collecting them in any book on hand. It's always a lovely
treat when fragile petals float from a page we're reading, and
sometimes we glue these decorations of nature to homemade Valentine's
Day cards sharing colorful memories of spring.
Children grow up fast, and grandparents miss the little things - like
a first lost tooth, a new smile. One fun way to send pictures is to
decorate cards with sunshines and flowers, replacing round centers
with cut-out faces of the grandkids. There's no better way to wish the
folks Happy Valentine's Day than to have a garden of your children's
faces beaming up at them.
About the Author
Stephanie Olsen, published writer, homeschooling mother of two and ESL
teacher currently residing in Europe, is also owner of the expatriate
site, Family Life Abroad http://www.familylifeabroad.com where you'll
find humorous and informative articles by experienced expatriates on
all aspects of living abroad, with lots of links and travel tips.
Additional Valentine's Day Resources:
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Valentine's Day On A Dime
by Tawra Jean Kellam
Living On A Dime
Using a little imagination, you can make your Valentine's day a little
more fun and a lot less expensive. If you want to add a little
personalized romance or if you don't have the time or money to buy all
the pre-made things in the store, here are some ideas from
www.livingonadime.com to
help you make the day special.
For the Kids:
My mom always made a great but inexpensive Valentine's Day treat for
us. She would take construction paper and cut a big heart out of it.
(About 8x10 inches) then she would staple the edges together and write
our names and an I love you on the outside. Then she would fill the
heart with candy, purchased on clearance after Christmas. It was very
inexpensive but we loved it!
Do a Valentine's treasure hunt. Leave little notes around with the
last one leading back to the kitchen table with heart full of candy.
For Lunches: Make heart shaped Valentine's cookies, cut the kids (or
hubby's) sandwiches with a heart shaped cookie cutter to make a heart
sandwich. Add a few Valentine's chocolates and put a note in red with
a big heart on their napkin.
Serve anything red for the day. Serve red Jell-o, red pudding, red
apples, toast with strawberry jelly, tomato soup, red applesauce, red
Kool-aid, strawberry milk, or red frosted cookies. Use powered food
coloring from the cake store to get the deepest shade of red. Leave
sticks of red gum in their Valentine's Day cards. (Editor's Note: Be
advised that some adults and children have adverse reactions to red
food coloring. Use caution and good sense.)
Make red heart shaped cupcakes. Make cupcakes as usual but place a
marble down the side of the muffin tin between the muffin tin and each
cupcake cup. This will make heart shaped cupcakes.
Make hearts out of chocolate chips in each of your pancakes.
Mail your pre-addressed and stamped Valentines to Loveland, Colorado
and they will postmark them and mail them for you. Send them to:
Postmaster, Attn: Valentines, Loveland, CO 80537
Things to do with or for your honey:
Make a treasure hunt for your spouse. Start by mailing or e-mailing
him the first clue. Then leave clues all over the house, yard, car or
his office telling him where to find the next clue. End the hunt by
making a picnic in the back yard or going to a park for a picnic. Use
your imagination and have fun. The simple things are the ones people
remember.
Go to a bookstore and enjoy the silence and browse. Get a cup of
coffee and make a date of it.
Celebrate Valentine's day AFTER Valentine's day. Everything is half
off.
Mail a love letter to your hubby's work.
Send your spouse a sexy email message.
Leave "Why I love you" message all over the house. Buy a package of
the cheap Valentines. Leave a message on each one and hide them all
over the house for your honey. They will get to enjoy the gift for
months!
Use lipstick to make hearts and love notes. Leave a kiss on his napkin
for lunch or dinner.
Make a bunch of hearts out of construction paper. Put a love note on
each one. Paste them all over the front door or car before your hubby
or kids come home from work.
If you don't have money to go out, have a picnic on the floor. Use
some candles and lay a soft blanket on the floor. Put on some soft
music and have a romantic Valentine's dinner on the floor. Use some
white Christmas lights for additional romantic lighting!
Tawra Kellam is the author of the frugal cookbook Not Just Beans:
50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites. Not Just Beans is a frugal
cookbook which has over 540 recipes and 400 tips. For more free tips
and recipes visit her web site at http://www.livingonadime.com/
This article provided by the Family Content Archives at: http://www.Family-Content.com |
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is
the greatest?"
In addition to pink
candies and heart shaped cookies, and of course valentines (this year
it is dora and blue!), We talk about the Immaculate Heart of Mary and
the Sacred Heart of Jesus and pray special devotions to them on this
day. This helps when we say things like I give you my heart, to really
start to understand what our hearts are to God. We also sing a song
called "Create in me a Clean Heart" so that we can talk about how in
giving one another our hearts in earthly love, we need to be as pure
as possible and only Christ's heart can help purify ours. Just a few
thoughts for tying in the depth of catholic 'stuff' about hearts since
this is the secular feast of the HEART!!!