Holidays Are Not About Food Alone

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, a holiday we have always approached with creativity and frugality. Like many young couples, in the first years of our marriage we were broke. On our first Valentine's day as husband and wife we set a $5 spending limit because that was really all we could afford. Actually, we probably should celebrate the day after Valentine's day because that would be much more inexpensive since everything is marked at least half off and still appropriate since February 15 is the day Jeff asked me to marry him. But, unable to resist the hype completely, long ago we embarked on making this hearts and flowers holiday our own.

That first year, and many succeeding ones as well, we made the valentines ourselves. I used a scrap of fabric to cover an old three-ring binder which I filled with famous love poems as well as some I had written. I bought a box of kiddie valentines and a glitter glue stick to decorate the divider pages of the notebook. Another time Jeff turned a small glass vase, some colored stones (the kind you put in the bottom of a fish tank), florist's wire, and squares of paper into an origami bouquet of flowers that graced my desk at school for many years. Once I bought a pretty, old book at a yard sale and painted over pages, decoupaged pictures, and wrote love notes throughout. Then, another year, Jeff filled a glass jar with paper hearts. Each heart had a task, a gift, a plan for a little romance written on it. Each week I drew a heart from the jar and Jeff did whatever it said from cooking dinner and doing laundry to renting a sappy movie or planning a family outing - which brings me to this Valentine's day.

We are continuing our tradition of having fun with this syrupy holiday by taking a family trip to the Casa Grande ruins in Coolidge, AZ. Jeff visited the site as a child, but our son and I have never been there. Following a look around at the ancient dwellings and the museum we're going to have a picnic in the park, complete with cooking hotdogs on the grill and playing some Frisbee. Since we didn't get back from the school trip until this afternoon, we decided to pick up a couple of side salads for the cookout at the grocery store, but I added a homemade touch with holiday cookies. I made basic drop sugar cookies but rolled the dough into little balls and flattened them with a fork. Next I sprinkled them with red sugar before baking. After they were cool I sandwiched them with cream cheese icing I had tinted red. They're festive and yummy, so that should set the tone for the event.

In addition to a picnic and some family time, I'm planning a nice beef dish which can simmer in the crock pot while we're gone. With the addition of some mashed potatoes and rolls, dinner will be a breeze. Of course, I didn't skip dessert - not on Valentine's Day. I whipped up a devil's food cake before I started the cookie project. After all what would a holiday known for flowers and candy be without something chocolate?

In case you're wondering about the gifts, we have those covered at record prices this year. That $5 spending limit I mentioned earlier lasted (appropriately enough) for the first five years of our marriage. We then moved up to $10 for the next five years, and $15 for the five after that. This is our 16th Valentine's Day as husband and wife, but we're sticking with the $15 limit indefinately. Jeff, who can't ever wait until an actual holiday arrives when gifts are involved, gave me my present tonight. He arranged our song ("With You" from the musical Pippin) for acapella choir, and his kids are singing it to me at the last concert of the year (in May). Yes, I cried. True to form, though, I am holding his gift until Valentine's Day actually arrives. Using a photo from a Mexican Riveria cruise we took last October, I created a pop art piece with the picture repeated in three different colors. The total for our love-fest gifts was $10, which is the price I paid for the discount poster frame at Michaels. Of course, at this rate there was enough left over to buy our son a box of chocolates. After all, nothing says I love you more than fat and sugar.

Over the years of being forced to spend time rather than money on a Valentine's gift we have learned to appreciate the truly important gifts we have every day of our lives, especially the one we found in each other. So, here's hoping your lacy hearts day gifts are more interesting and creative than expensive. Happy Valentine's Day!