Valentine's Day Approaches

art by milton glaser

 

I love Valentine's Day, I love the color red and hearts and chocolates and everything that is Valentine. For many years I would hold a small intimate dinner party on this special day. Planning for weeks ahead for the big little event. I would come up with a theme and go from there, making up special plate-side menus for the occasion. I would have a single rose on the plates for the ladies and a tiny box of chocolates for the men.

The table was set with my best china and silverware and a crisp white tablecloth. Always my centerpiece flowers would be red and white tulips, ordered well in advance so I would not be disappointed. I had candlelight and soft music, a delicious meal with a scrumptious dessert to top it off - usually something very chocolatey and made from scratch.

I think this love for Valentine's Day goes back to my school days and the fun of exchanging Valentine's with my classmates. It was a big event which started with the construction of the class Valentine Box that sat on the edge of the teacher's desk. We sometimes even made take home containers from shoe boxes and decorated them with red, white and pink construction paper to hold our own treasured greetings. It was fun getting a "mushy" greeting from someone who signed the card as "Guess Who" or "Your Secret Admirer" - free to express your love for someone and not having to reveal your identity.

I still send out Valentine cards on a random basis, not like a xmas card list of folks, I just like it to be a surprise and not a counted on card. If you get a card in your mail box signed "Your Secret Admirer" who knows it could be from me.

It was fun also to make these little cards with bits of colored paper and frilly doilies and little sticker hearts. I hope you find this Valentine's just for you in your blog 'mailbox' and know that a very secret admirer is thinking of you this Valentine's Day.