Valentine's Day

The member of our household who is single and underage did by far the best on Valentine's Day. Which only confirms what we already knew about Western bias in favor of early, uncertain love rather than the steadier, long-term variety. Early love makes for a thrilling movie; long-term love lends itself to a subtle, in-depth novel...and who has the time to read those anymore?

So Edith celebrated in grand style, first at a Valentine's crafts night at church last Sunday, and then at school on February 14 proper. She and her classmates decorated bags to hold their Valentines; had a party complete with heart-shaped toast, red jello and the like; played Hug Your Friend When the Music Stops and Toss the Beanbag through the Heart-Shaped Hole; had a scavenger hunt for hidden hearts in the classroom; received a bounty of gifts from their teachers (a definite upping of the ante since I was young); presented their parents with fancy handcrafted votive holders, Valentines bearing their handprints, and handmade refrigerator magnets reminding us to hug our child daily; greeted us at the day's end with an "I Love Mommy/Daddy" song they had rehearsed; and exchanged a whole bevy of Valentines with each other. As with Christmas gifts, two seems to be an ideal age for exchanging Valentines: No matter whether they fell into the category of store-bought cards featuring a recognizable branded character or homemade efforts, Edith was thrilled. "Harry gave me Pooh! And Piglet's hiding in the flowers--that's so funny!" was followed by, "Hannah put glitter on a heart for me! That's so sweet."

Tom and I, meanwhile, find ourselves on February 15 each with a card for the other that--in the bustle of supervising Valentines production and preparing class party goodies--we never found the time to fill out. To be fair, Tom did much better than I did otherwise: He also brought home roses, a chocolate cake, and champagne, along with the enormous Dora balloon that Edith persuaded him I would like. I managed only two Godiva chocolates. We shared them while playing our first round of Blokus, a spatial strategy game we got for Christmas, after Edith was in bed. Good game!

My Valentines. Edith discovered that a Christmas dress recycled nicely as a Valentine's dress.

Decorating cookies at church. Valentine's crafts night was a make-up for the traditional Advent crafts night that was cancelled preemptively in December in anticipation of snow that never materialized.

Instant gratification

Decked out for Valentine's Day at school

Edith, Sarah, and Hannah set to work first thing, decorating the paper tablecloths for the class party with stamps. When she's not absorbed by Valentine's Day, Edith has spent her days at school recently as "Mermaid," the Little (a.k.a. Ariel), while Sarah is Snow White. Since Sarah gets to school early, she has taken to donning her costume right away, then pulling out Edith's and saving it for her until she arrives. It was a testament to the excitement of the holiday that Edith didn't head straight for her fin but got absorbed in something else first.

This picture of a resort hotel room awash in pink neon light was not from a romantic getaway but a business trip. (Can't you tell?) I spent three nights there last week--alone.