Valentines: What fills your HEART? What makes your heart HAPPY?

I don't usually make a big deal about this holiday, except it's a good excuse to get a childless date night with my hubby sometime in the month.  We never go out on the actual day because neither of us care to face the crowds or the fanfare.  This year it took two weeks before we had a night that worked with babysitting, and that works for us.

We were actually camping the weekend of Valentines at KQ, just a relaxing weekend with just our family and Grammy and Grampy.  The kids enjoyed golf, bike riding, swimming, hay ride, s'mores, ...  it was so relaxing.  My Valentine's day gift to Chris was offering to do the dirty work at the dump station.  ;-)

What I most enjoyed about Valentines this year was actually what I was able to teach my children about love.  I was in charge of Piper's Girl Scout meeting the week prior, so I tailored the meeting to the holiday.  I started with:  "What is in your heart?" As in, "What makes your heart happy?"  Girls wrote on a red paper heart.  Then we added names of people who make those things possible.  For example, one of Piper's was piano lessons--Aunt Didi.

(That says tickles in the middle.)

Then, they picked a person named in their heart to give a "Gift of Gratitude."  The girls filled in a letter template I had prefabbed, then folded it up and put a bow on it to deliver to the person.  I was inspired by a quote from Arthur Ward--visualize it:

   "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."

I have often thought about and appreciated the kindness and joy of others without actually saying anything out loud, so this is my reminder to say them!  I wrote one letter as my sample, and sent it, and wrote another as an email--it felt really nice and it was easy!

Happy Valentines to you, and may the people in your heart know it too.