Late last night, I scrounged through my closet, looking for a few bags of Valentine’s Day goodies. Once they were found, I arranged a special place for each child, writing their name on a scrap piece of white paper.

It’s Valentine’s Day! While my husband and I mainly practice our faith in Messianic ways, we do have a bit of fun with our family on Valentine’s Day. We believe wholeheartedly that the worship of God shouldn’t be intermingled with pagan things, which is why we avoid Christmas and Easter. But for now, we don’t see any problem with giving our children a few goodies reminding them of our love on February 14th. That being said, I know many people avoid it, and who knows…perhaps our Father will lead us to do the same one day.

With that in mind, I’d love to share what we do with our family on Valentine’s Day.

I tend to not build it up too much. My children usually make each other cards and homemade gifts. Two of my daughters dug plants out of the yard for my husband after I gave them permission. They were very creative, and made a cute arrangement for him. They also made clay sculptures, and a few other things.

To make the day special, after everyone goes to bed on the 13th, my husband and I do a little decorating and set gifts on the table. I was able to find a tablecloth made for coloring at Walmart this year. My children love these things and I was so happy to have found it. Each child received a practical pair of pajamas or a blanket, a small $3-5 stuffed toy, a $1 balloon, and some candy. This makes the holiday super affordable for our large family.

For the first time ever, this year my husband and I split two dozen roses up between our five daughters at home. They lit up! It made my mama heart happy to make them feel special. The vases we used were only $1.24 in the craft section at Walmart.

(My one-year-old is looking adorable in his handed down Heart Throb shirt. He is bringing a smile to everyone’s face today.)

And that’s about it. We just have a special morning at home…we don’t watch any movies or emphasize the “romantic” part of the day, and instead, use it as time to let our children know that we love them. We try to do this every day without gifts and trinkets of course, but we hope this is a special childhood memory for them.

Even so, we must remember that trinkets are not required to give our children an amazing childhood full of wonderful memories. It’s the day in, day out love that we give our children that matters. Gifts can be fun, but time and attention outweigh gifts every time.

I must admit that because we don’t celebrate Christmas anymore, by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around I’m ready to give my children something special. Again, this is the culture talking to me, and it’s not something that I “have” to do. We also give gifts or have a gift exchange during the Biblical Feasts and on Hanukkah. These times are much more special and meaningful than Valentine’s Day!

While I wouldn’t necessarily call our Valentine’s Day “simple,” I would say it is fun, yet low-key, family focused celebration. The Lord has been so good to allow us to have this time together.

I hope you have had a lovely day with your family so far! After our fun morning, we have finished up our goat fence and plan to make more raised garden beds later today. Now that’s what I call exciting!