I will admit that I do very little for Valentine's Day. I often have great plans, but then spend January and February simply trying to recover from the Holidays. Before I know it, Valentines Day has come and gone, and I'm still trying to finish up the Christmas cards. I once had a stash of vintage heart-shaped candy boxes that I was going to use to make all sorts of wonderful stuff. It never happened. After about twelve years, I donated the boxes to Goodwill.
A simple craft, a display of heart-shaped cookie cutters, a couple of vintage valentines tucked into a bookshelf -- that's about all I try do anymore. There was a time when we made Valentines for the birds, using white bread cut into heart shapes, spread with peanut butter, and coated with birdseed.
It was a fun family project, and the children enjoyed watching out the window, as lots of sweet little birds visited the tree where we had so lovingly hung their gifts. Then one year we got a kitten. Naive little family that we were, we made our traditional valentines for the birds. A few days later, as we pulled into our driveway after school, we noticed feathers all over our lawn! Oh, the trauma -- there sat our sweet cuddly kitten, watching, and patiently waiting for the next victim. The kids were really understanding about our kitty's hunting instinct, and really loved their kitty, but they loved the birds, too, so we all agreed the bird treats had to be taken down.
When my oldest child was in preschool, her teacher requested a parent meeting right after Valentine's Day. She was concerned that our daughter was not performing at grade level and was not going to be ready for kindergarten. When I asked her why she felt that way, she pulled out a manila folder, opened it up, and removed an art project my four-year-old daughter had done.
It looked weirdly familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. The teacher explained that she had instructed the children to draw hearts on their papers, and our daughter was the only child in class who seemed unable to draw a simple heart shape. After a half-hour of listening to the woman's drivel, I left -- without the heart. The heart, apparently was part of our daughter's "permanent record". As it turned out, our daughter thought it was really weird that her teacher wanted them to draw hearts. She gave it her best effort, having only seen a heart once -- on a PBS documentary on open heart surgery. She thought it was strange that her classmates were getting it so wrong. She's in her twenties, now, and still remembers that project, and her bewilderment at being asked to draw a HEART for Valentine's Day! I sure do love that kid.
Someday, I want to make something wonderful like this sweet heart.
A simple craft, a display of heart-shaped cookie cutters, a couple of vintage valentines tucked into a bookshelf -- that's about all I try do anymore. There was a time when we made Valentines for the birds, using white bread cut into heart shapes, spread with peanut butter, and coated with birdseed.
The bird valentines we made with our young children were very similar to these darling hearts.
I think my daughter must have been a trendsetter, Etsy shops are full of these
When my oldest child was in preschool, her teacher requested a parent meeting right after Valentine's Day. She was concerned that our daughter was not performing at grade level and was not going to be ready for kindergarten. When I asked her why she felt that way, she pulled out a manila folder, opened it up, and removed an art project my four-year-old daughter had done.
The drawing our daughter's teacher presented looked more like this heart than a typical Valentine heart!
It looked weirdly familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. The teacher explained that she had instructed the children to draw hearts on their papers, and our daughter was the only child in class who seemed unable to draw a simple heart shape. After a half-hour of listening to the woman's drivel, I left -- without the heart. The heart, apparently was part of our daughter's "permanent record". As it turned out, our daughter thought it was really weird that her teacher wanted them to draw hearts. She gave it her best effort, having only seen a heart once -- on a PBS documentary on open heart surgery. She thought it was strange that her classmates were getting it so wrong. She's in her twenties, now, and still remembers that project, and her bewilderment at being asked to draw a HEART for Valentine's Day! I sure do love that kid.
