Valentine’s Day morning breakfast was a tradition I grew up with. My mother was not a morning person, and often she had to work late at night. Mornings, before school, my sister and I were usually on our own, from the time we were in middle school. But every year, on Valentine’s Day, my mother would wake up early, make us a special breakfast, and send us off to school feeling loved and wanted. It made me love Valentine’s Day, and the special opportunity to show God’s love to the world, on a day where everyone was looking for it.
Fast forward many years, to when I began the tradition with my own family. It always makes me smile when I look back on traditions I started (or tried to start) and what has actually stuck around, and what has morphed as the years have gone by. Some of my favorite pictures were taken after a Valentine’s Day breakfast, when bellies were full, and hearts were bursting, and we gather around for a family-selfie.
The kids have grown over the last 17 years, and the family jokes and play on words we use in each others homemade cards get more and more fun. What we eat and drink has changed over time too.
These pictures are like mini time capsules. The back grounds to the pictures tell me what stage of life we were in, which house project we were on, who had lost teeth, what the kids current trends and styles they were into, what we were eating.
Mostly each picture reminds me of how much we love each other. Every day may have some bickering or relational challenges, but in the end, we know we are accepted and loved by our family, and encouraged to be who God created us to be.
The kids keep getting bigger and bigger. Only one can fit on my lap at a time now, but we all know how to squeeze into a picture! It’s a tight fit, but we make it work.
It’s even more hilarious to look and see our crazy hair and bed heads. We don’t usually doll ourselves up for Valentine’s Day, so the pictures are always crazy fun. Just us, being real, happy to be together, and loved by a great God.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
So fun to invite us into a creative and meaningful family tradition!!