Majoring on Minors (Holidays, that is)

You often hear advice on parenting or career or just life saying "don't major on the minors," that is, keep your priorities right and don't focus too much on little things that don't matter. As I indulged my desire to decorate and craft and plan for yet another minor holiday, I realized that I love to major on minors—when it comes to fun "Hallmark" holidays, special events like the Olympics, or just a random Sunday afternoon. Making a big deal of little holidays is a ripe opportunity for family fun and making memories, and those are majors in our house.

Kate got really into decorating for Valentine's Day (maybe because I let her stay up to do it), so we are all decked out, from the dining room table where we'll enjoy a "fancy" family dinner tonight, to the wreath and garland on the mantle, to the balloon "chandelier" hanging from the ceiling fan.

Kate thrilled my mama heart a couple weeks ago when she told Matt, "I don't need my coat—winter is over. It's Valentine's now!" The fact that she is telling the seasons from our holiday decor amused me to death. True—we took down all the blue and silver stuff from her Winter Wonderland birthday party and put up hearts and red ribbon—the seasons must have changed!

I like to write something motivating on the white board in the kitchen, so this month, it was a Dixie Chicks lyric that I consider a pretty good motto for life: "if there's ever an answer, it's more love." It applies in any situation—what's the most loving response?

 

As the big V-day has drawn closer, we've done some artwork, donned our pink and heart-laden clothes. . .

. . . and of course gotten our valentines ready for the class parties!

Since the girls got lots of new crayons for Christmas, I decided it was time to do a purge of the old ones and make use of them by making melted crayon hearts again this year. (We did this for Kate's class two years ago, but I think only two of the kids are the same, and they probably wouldn't remember anyway!)

 

Last night, we bagged them up with some little juju hearts and crayon-shaped tags that say "You color my world, Valentine!"

Kate wrote her name and the names of her friends while Claire scribbled on hers and I wrote the names.

We also made a little valentine for BGC's parents, who we saw this morning at her appointment to get fitted for hearing aids. (Her hearing loss is severe, so these should really help her get talking!)

This morning, I did Kate's hair with this fun heart flip-do I saw on Pinterest, and we had heart-shaped pancakes.

Looking forward to our fun family dinner tonight, followed by a bottle of vino and season 2 of "House of Cards" for Matt and I after bedtime!

I love the quote, "Enjoy the little things, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." I hope our "major" celebrations for "minor" holidays fall into that category for the girls, and that when they look back on their childhoods, they remember all the fun and love we shared—not just in the big things like Christmas and birthday and vacations, but in the little things as well.