The Right Way To Celebrate Valentines Day

Progress doesn't always mean life is better. We celebrated Valentines Day much differently. I well remember the trip to the store to choose the simple Valentine cards to give to my classmates. They were simple little cards in a perforated sheet that we would carefully fold and tear apart. They had very cheap thin envelopes. Sometimes they were loose cards in a box (that was lidless!) covered in plastic wrap. In the package there were always 2 for teachers and I would carefully pick the right one for my teacher. (If I liked my teacher it was the best one if not....just saying...) We then would spend the nights before Valentines with our class lists. Every Valentine was addressed to someone. There were no generic valentines that were plopped into the masses boxes.  If someone was a good friend, they got a good card. If it was a boy (cooties),.....again. My mother insisted that we give a Valentine to everyone in our class so that no one got their feelings hurt. I never searched the cards given to me to see if every class member had remembered me. It wasn't an issue. I appreciate that my mother taught me to think of others, it wasn't just another rule at school. We were thrilled to carry home our Valentines is the containers that we worked so hard to make at school. For some reason, I really remember the large heart shaped envelop made from butcher paper and staples. We weren't loaded down with candy, just the cards from our classmates. We usually were given a sugar cookie or cupcake from the Room Mother. (Is there such a thing as a Room  Mother any more?)
   Having arrived safely at home and once again examining our cards, the real fun of Valentines began. We really could have done away with the school celebration. Now came the excitement of espionage. We would go through the same routine of choosing the card and writing our friends and neighbor's names on them. Here is where the treats made their showing. Some years, we would have made and decorated fluffy pink sugar cookies. We would put them on a plate with the cards. We had to sneak onto the porch of our intended 'victim'. We had to be quick and quiet. I had some anxiety on years that there was ice on the sidewalks. After everything was in place, we would ring the doorbell or pound a few knock out. Then ..... we RAN. We usually had a safe refuge in advance that we could duck behind. We would listen to hear that the door opened. We loved listening or peaking and seeing the door officiant looking around and trying to catch us. Then we hurried home for the next mission. We loved being home and listening for our own doors to herald the arrival of mysterious treats. We loved the cards and usually got them from all the other children in the neighborhood. Sometimes they were just cards, but at time they were accompanied by heart shaped suckers or candies or lovely sugar cookies. It was an exciting afternoon. We loved sorting our treasures. Then after dusk, we would be enjoying the evening and we would hear a thunderous banging on our front door. I mean the hardest knock you could imagine. It made my heart leap to my throat every year. We always tried to catch the people leaving Valentines and would usually race to catch a glimpse of the perpatator. But that knock would cause me to freeze like a deer in the headlights. As we pulled open the front door, we always found a the best treat of all. It was usually a heart shaped box filled with candy. I don't even know how  or when I realized the gift was from my parents and that my father had been the one to kick the door and run. It seemed like he has been with us the whole time. How could he have been in two places at once? I love and appreciate my parents for making our holidays fun. It seems like once again a fun holiday has been turned into a situation that warrants giving hard earned dollars to the commercial industry. How did children turn into greedy monsters that are only  happy with treats or expensive gifts?When did a simple Valentine card become so undesirable?
(Future post... the string Valentine. )