Won't You Be My Valentine?

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So I (Kelli) love traditions and we just started a new one this Valentine's Day that I hope to continue for years to come. The tradition is simple, we each make a homemade Valentine card for every other person in our family and then open them together and read them out loud over a meal on Valentine's Day. I'm excited to see the kids growing maturity evidenced through their cards from year to year. So Maia had her card all made for Caden and we sat down to write a note in it. She dictates and I write. Now I have to say that the context for writing Caden's note was when we were waiting for his naptime so she and I could work on a special project together. So Maia's note begins. . ." Dear Caden, I love you most right before you go to sleep. Please go to sleep soon. . ." Did I say that I'm looking forward to seeing how the kids mature through the years???? I plan on keeping all these cards and I know it will be fun years down the road to pull them out and take a trip down memory lane. I got this idea from a book called "Real Love for Real Life - The Art and Work Of Caring." By Andi Ashworth. She took their tradition one step further and put together a fancy dinner each Valentine's Day for their family and then they opened their cards at the end of dinner. Sounds like a great idea to me but I think I'll wait until the kids actually appreciate a nice dinner to add that part. Anyway, in her book she writes. . ."Each year as Valentine's Day approached, moans and groans could be heard in the household. The cards had to be made one more time. But every year I insisted, and the family went along, and each year we ended up in tears as the letters were read. The Valentine letters were a way of setting aside one day a year to lavish written words of love upon each other, to encourage and admire, to make formal apologies, and to say wonderful and heartfelt things that might not otherwise get said. This tradition offered our family a unique opportunity to care for one another that we would not have had without intentional celebration." Anyway, Happy Belated Valentine's Day from our house full of monkeys!