The secret Valentine Surprise movement!

Time to blog seems to be woefully hard to come by these days and I miss it.  It helps me keep my perspective and then I don't feel that I am mashing a lot of things disjointedly into one post.  So today, despite there being a kabillion things I want to write about and only about 5 minutes to do it, I am choosing our new family tradition:  "Valentune surprise."

My wife hates Valentines day. Which I think is weird as what is not to like about a holiday that makes you stop and remind someone you care about them?  She opines that it is a "manufactured" holiday and I maintain that she has the luxury to be that way because she has a February birthday. I love decorating, making valentines, sending flowers, the works.   My wife has a guaranteed celebration that the rest of the world does not with her February birthday.

However this year I decided to show her that Valentines Day is not commercial. It is a pause to make sure our loved ones know they are loved and appreciated.  Hence I created Valentine Surprise.  Last night I explained to the kids that over the next few days we were going to find somethng special to do for Mom and quietly do it. Then we would leave a little heart there that said "VS"  Last night's "vs" was cleaning the launch pad area in our front hall.  The kids helped put everything that was on it away and arranged three plants attractively in the center of it with a little heart tucked inside the middle one.  It was literally the first thing that my wife noticed when she came home from work.

I am going to be curious if today they are able to find a way to surprise her today on their own, or if they will need some help from me after we get home from dance classes tonight.  Either way, there will be another little heart with another non material gift appearing somewhere in our home today!