Dining In
I should really go back and look at old pictures and figure out when exactly we started this Valentine's Day tradition. Every year our family celebrates Valentine's Day with a "fancy dinner". We break out the china (okay, we don't break it!), put on an instrumental music CD, turn the lights off, light the candles, and enjoy the "ambience"!!
A few days before the big day, the kids and I made Valentine treats to serve after the fancy dinner. In addition to peppermint popcorn for our area relatives, we made heart-shaped cut-out cookies and homemade conversation candy. I was thrilled to find the food pens at Walmart! The kids enjoyed writing personal notes to each other.
I couldn't find the plastic champagne glasses in the pantry, so I tried putting red tumblers on the table. The kids (Paige in particular) wouldn't have it! So I went down into the basement and dug through our old wedding decoration box. Lo and behold, there were 2 stacks of plastic champagne glasses (but only a few bottoms)! I also brought up about a dozen of our printed wedding napkins. "Wow Mom!! Your name and Dad's name are PRINTED on these!!" "We should frame one of these." "Are these REALLY from 1995?" and so on.
We enjoyed t-bone steaks, baked potatoes, corn, spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette, cranberry wine (for those of legal age!), croissants, and orange pop (because that was the only carbonated non-alcoholic drink we had in the pantry). I say this not to boast, for this is not how we usually eat, but to record the event for posterity. The menu changes a bit every year, but I try to serve at least one red food. This year I guess that would be the raspberry dressing and ketchup! (Note to self: try to have a bottle of red pop on hand before February 14, 2012. And also a pound of butter, or else you will have to spend $3.25 for it at the local convenience store!!) For dessert we had cookie pie with ice cream. No calories in it whatsoever.
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After dinner some of the kids passed out Valentines they'd made for everyone. It was very sweet. Daddy always makes an awesome Valentine card/folder with candy in it and slips it in the kids' lockers at school, while lately I have been hitting the dollar books on scholastic.com. Mark surprised me with a beautiful wooden plate inscribed with the Lord's Prayer. (forgot to take a picture!) Our fancy dinner is always extra-special, something the kids look forward to, and one night at the table that is guaranteed to be a bit quieter and more elegant than most. :)
County B Funpark becomes County B Supper Club for one night of the year!
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.--Psalm 34:8
A few days before the big day, the kids and I made Valentine treats to serve after the fancy dinner. In addition to peppermint popcorn for our area relatives, we made heart-shaped cut-out cookies and homemade conversation candy. I was thrilled to find the food pens at Walmart! The kids enjoyed writing personal notes to each other.
I couldn't find the plastic champagne glasses in the pantry, so I tried putting red tumblers on the table. The kids (Paige in particular) wouldn't have it! So I went down into the basement and dug through our old wedding decoration box. Lo and behold, there were 2 stacks of plastic champagne glasses (but only a few bottoms)! I also brought up about a dozen of our printed wedding napkins. "Wow Mom!! Your name and Dad's name are PRINTED on these!!" "We should frame one of these." "Are these REALLY from 1995?" and so on.
We enjoyed t-bone steaks, baked potatoes, corn, spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette, cranberry wine (for those of legal age!), croissants, and orange pop (because that was the only carbonated non-alcoholic drink we had in the pantry). I say this not to boast, for this is not how we usually eat, but to record the event for posterity. The menu changes a bit every year, but I try to serve at least one red food. This year I guess that would be the raspberry dressing and ketchup! (Note to self: try to have a bottle of red pop on hand before February 14, 2012. And also a pound of butter, or else you will have to spend $3.25 for it at the local convenience store!!) For dessert we had cookie pie with ice cream. No calories in it whatsoever.
*
After dinner some of the kids passed out Valentines they'd made for everyone. It was very sweet. Daddy always makes an awesome Valentine card/folder with candy in it and slips it in the kids' lockers at school, while lately I have been hitting the dollar books on scholastic.com. Mark surprised me with a beautiful wooden plate inscribed with the Lord's Prayer. (forgot to take a picture!) Our fancy dinner is always extra-special, something the kids look forward to, and one night at the table that is guaranteed to be a bit quieter and more elegant than most. :)
County B Funpark becomes County B Supper Club for one night of the year!
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.--Psalm 34:8
posted by Amy Siegert | 6:04 AM
1 Comments:
I LOVE your tradition!!! That certainly is an awesome one and hopefully your kids will remember it and continue doing that tradition. Your dinner sounded lovely! We had leftover chicken noodle soup (at least with homemade noodles. LOL!) Mark was at school so we didn't really celebrate.
By the way, I think that's what butter cost at HyVee today. Highway robbery!
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