3 Family Valentine’s Day Traditions to Strengthen Your Family

When our family was full of little people, Valentine’s Day was a holiday that made me slightly crazy.  Like so many things in life, it never quite turned out like the picture in my head, or like the one at the top of this post.  I don’t think I’m alone in this either!  Can you relate?

Let me paint a picture.  Our first few Valentine’s celebrations with a family looked something like this:

• husband coming home late,
• dinner falling on the floor,
• husband coming home really late
• dinner burning,
• kids crying for more candy
• husband coming home really really late
• mostly grumpy Mom

Now, with 20 years of successes and failures, we’ve learned a thing or two about what works for us.  We’ve learned to adapt as our family has grown, and I look forward to celebrating each year.

Each of our family Valentine’s Day traditions have come out of moments of total imperfection and yet bring us closer together.  That’s why I love them.  So whether you are a lover or hater, I hope as you read, an idea will spark for you.

The Rose Giveaway

It was another Valentine’s evening of our dinner plans just not coming together.  When Jared finally walked through the door, carrying a bundle of roses, I was frazzled and tired.  I wanted to be grateful for his gesture and the beautiful roses, but really I was just frustrated and grumpy.  It was time for a shift.

So without much of a plan, we loaded the kids and roses into the car, had a quick conversation about who we knew that might be feeling sad or lonely, and drove to the first house.

We unloaded our little kids, handed them each a rose, and walked up to the door.

Our first house was a dear woman from our church whose husband had passed away a few months earlier.  We didn’t know her well so she was quite surprised to find our little family on her doorstep.  The interaction was sweet and simple.  Each of the kids handed her a rose, we told her we were thinking about her, wished her a Happy Valentine’s Day, and walked back to the car.

We repeated the process until the roses were gone.  That was 12 years ago and we’ve done it almost every Valentine’s Day since.  Along the way, we have collected some sweet and funny experiences.  I’m not sure who these moments have impacted more, the kids or us.  But as I sit here remembering that very first night, my heart is near bursting and I’m glad things didn’t go quite as planned.

Click NEXT to strengthen your family this Valentine’s Day.