Celebrating Love with Valentine’s Day

Happy love day friends! Although we’ve been enjoying some signs of spring around the farm, today we’re having quite the snow day.

I’m a big fan of Valentine’s day and the opportunity it offers to celebrate love 🤗

Our Valentines rituals have been growing with our family. As the kids grow their attention and interest in the holidays evolve and change, so I expect this process to continue. The core traditions are a familiar base that anchors us to the seasonal rhythm throughout the year and feel like returning to an old friend.

 On the week leading up to Valentine’s day, on our nature walks, we gather fruit tree branches still dormant in the outdoor cold, we place them in a vase and watch the magic unfold as blooms appear over the course of the week. This year we did a little experimentation, and chose branches from a variety of trees. Phoenix has been wondering and hypothesizing about the results. So far we have several blooming branches from a plum tree, and tiny green leaves uncurling from a maple. On this “Valentines Tree” we hang small valentines from present and past reminding us of the love of friends and family. This year we also hung cut out paper snowflakes with the arrival of snow.

Throughout the week we’ve been reading love stories. A favorite is a wonderful book called, Papa, Daddy, and Riley, which is the sweetest story celebrating the diversity of families and highlights that love is what makes a family. https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/9781433832390-item.html?s_campaign=goo-Shopping_Smart_Books&gclid=CjwKCAiAsaOBBhA4EiwAo0_AnB6zoWIk0Fi6mbiK6weiPZtiWz1AP-gFKw-hR5kjT5jU

This year, Phoenix was very keen to make a Valentine’s post box which was a new addition to our Valentine’s traditions but is a keeper for sure. He was inspired by this scene by Tasha Tudor. He spent hours, cutting, painting and gluing until we had a lovely spot to post our Valentines ready for Valentine’s morning.

After a Valentine’s cinnamon bun breakfast this morning, Phoenix and Sky created a special space in the living room, using silks and pillows then placed the post box in the center. They placed their dolls and toys around the space, along with spots for us and we all received a love note or carefully painted card. Later in the afternoon, we braved the snow and delivered Valentine’s to family and neighbours door steps 💐

Another engaging Valentines/ Spring craft this week was flower painting. This is such a simple and satisfying one using only flower petals and water colour paper. I have full instructions included here in a previous post https://heartsonghomeschool.ca/2020/09/03/painting-with-flowers/

Sending you all lot’s of love xxx