Valentine's Ideas & Traditions

Happy Sunday, lovelies!! I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend and that you’re spending it with those you love. Valentine’s Day is almost here and I, for one, am very excited! Jamit and I will probably keep our celebration pretty low key, since it will be mid-week and it’s a very busy month at work. I think what we’ll appreciate most is a nice dinner at home, with a great bottle of wine and a romantic movie! Since I won’t have too much time to prepare a complicated meal, I decided to make one of Jamit’s very favorite desserts; these molten chocolate cakes are surprisingly easy to prepare and are decadent and very romantic!

What do you have planned for V-Day this year? As I child I loved how special I was always made to feel on heart day. My Mom would find a way to add some special, “love flair” to our meals and would always tuck a little, love note in our lunch box (something she did on a regular basis). She used to cut our sandwiches into the shape of a heart and we thought it was brilliant! I love this idea for a festive breakfast. My Dad used to make a point of bringing me something special on Valentine’s Day that I knew was just from him. We always knew that Mom did the majority of the gift buying (or at the very least, it was a team effort), but on Valentine’s Day my Dad would come home with a gift for my Mom and something wonderful; just for me, just from him! xo

Do you have any unique Valentine’s ideas or traditions to share? I think these marshmallows are just the sweetest! Wouldn’t they be a great gift for a teacher, along with a tin of cocoa? You could give your little one the edible markers and let them go to town!

I found these free templates for pretty Valentines and plan on printing a few to hand out to friends on Wednesday!

I don’t generally exchange Valentines gifts anymore (Jamit and I try and do something thoughtful for one another, rather than buying gifts), but I remembered a tradition I was the lucky beneficiary of a few years ago and thought I might start making it my own. It was the week before Christmas and my Dad came home from work with a small gift tagged for me. It was from one of his coworkers and his family; I was stunned! I knew them fairly well, but certainly never imagined I was on their gift list. When I opened it on Christmas morning I found a lovely set of French soaps and a beautiful scarf. I was so touched and immediately picked up the phone to thank them. When I asked them how it was I got so lucky to have been given such a thoughtful gift, they explained that each year they choose someone they are not expected to buy a present for and they surprise them with something thoughtful. As a family, they were trying to emphasize the true meaning of gift giving. They thought of me and wanted to show me that I was important to them. I was incredibly moved and can’t believe it’s taken me this many years to pay it forward! This Valentines Day I’ve chosen one of my new girlfriends who was so welcoming and went out of her way to help me make new friends when I first moved to Boston. I plan on giving her a copy of Tina Fey’s “Bossypants”. Have you read it? It’s such a fun read! Her prayer for her daughter made me laugh out loud! I’m sure many of you can relate.

My funny Valentines' Love, Jamit with our dog Lumi.

This week I’ll leave you with this adorable video my friend, Danielle, posted. Her kids are ridiculously cute and it makes me chuckle each time I see it! My favorite part is Sacha referring to himself in the third person! I’m sure you Mommies can imagine how long it took to clean Milla of “the lotion”; as I recall it was somewhere around the one week mark. Enjoy and have a marvelous week! 

This article was written by Courtney Dhaliwal, one of our newest blog contributors. While she's not a mom yet, she is by far the best Aunty one can ask for (and a pretty darn good BFF).