It's That Day in February

As usually happens with gift-giving holidays, the nature of my work ensures that by the time the big day rolls around, I am thoroughly over it.

Valentine's Day is no exception.

In my childhood, Valentine's Day was a big deal. My mom insisted I had to give everyone a Valentine so that no one would feel left out. I took the box of cards, picked out the biggest/best one for the boy I had the crush on at the time and chose the next-to-best cards for my friends. The ones I thought were nasty went to the kids I didn't get along with, and the middle-of-the road variety were destined for the rest of the class.

Being a child of the Baby Boom era, class size was in the 30-40 student range. So selecting and addressing the cards was quite an undertaking.

I remember walking around the room, handing out the cards and wondering how mine would be received. Some years, if I'm remembering correctly, we decorated a box to take the cards home in.

When my son was in grade school, the students were not permitted to address the cards to anyone in particular. They just signed their name, and the Valentines were handed out one to each student. While I suppose this is more fair, it also seems more generic and less interesting. Plus, it got to a point where they weren't allowed to bring in candy, either, because it wasn't healthy.

Sometimes, I don't think kids today know what they are missing. (Oy vey, listen to me, such an alter cocker!)

Also lamentable is the lack of creativity in today's Valentine cards. There are lots of zombies and super heroes and such, the but the writing on them sucks. Back in the day, the cards were tongue in cheek, with groan-worthy puns and visuals to match.

Oh well.

These days, my husband and I swap cards. He makes a card for me. This year, I made a card for him. I'm going to bake chocolate chip cookies, since it looks like the snow will deter us from heading out.

So we'll hang around, watch a little TV, maybe find a good book and chow the cookies as they emerge from the oven.

 These days, that sounds like the perfect way to spend Valentine's Day!