"True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops." - William Goldman, The Princess Bride

I decided to throw a candlelight Valentines dinner this year and invite the children. So, the day before Valentines Day, I raided my mother's house. It seems that if I were to make a list of things I do not own, it would include the following: a tablecloth, candlesticks, drinking apparatus made of anything other than plastic that do not display Disney characters, and any holiday-oriented serving platters. It was actually quite funny. As I was loading up my mother's crystal goblets, my grandmother (who has Alzheimer's and does not remember who I am) thought I was robbing the place. She actually held a few plates in her arms and really was not going to let me have them. I had quite the time trying to explain that I was just borrowing them and that I had permission. Eventually, I came away with a presentable table for our Love Feast. 

Although the kids didn't necessarily love the sparking cider, they did love toasting one another and saying "Darling" incessantly.

My children, and my husband, love (that's L.O.V.E.) crab legs. I did buy a few King Crab legs for Greg (after all, he is the whole reason I even cater a Love Feast) and a few Snow Crab legs for the children (because King Crab may as well be gold-plated for as much as they cost, and although I truly love my children, there are limits).

Here is the Master teaching his oh-so-attentive proteges.

The carnage:

Then, I spent the evening creating these Valentine Box I-Pods out of old cereal boxes for Austin and Macy to take to school the next day:

It has long been my tradition to create candy bar posters for my kids on Valentines Day. Usually, I have them displayed so they wake up to find them, but since I spent the majority of the evening making the cereal-box I-pods, I had to do these while the kids were at school. Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to cut it down and make it small, and every year, I end up with gigantic posters. This year, I hung them on the back of our kitchen chairs so they were there when the kids got home from school. 

Taelyn was over while I was making the posters and she wanted one so I made one for her too. Then Paige and Taelyn had fun decorating their posters with hearts.

As much as I adore my husband, Valentines Day has never been a big deal for us. The first year we were married, me made homemade cards for each other, and the tradition has just sort of stuck. The tradition being: Show a small token of love and appreciation and try to spend as little money as possible. It works really well for us.