Serving Up a Plate of Love - A Valentine's Retrospective

I almost forgot about the chocolate!  In the past around Valentine's Day, I've usually put together pretty little bags of chocolates to give to my kid(s) and perhaps to a few friends or niece/nephew.  Last year we baked cookies and dropped by a few close-in-proximity friends' houses to deliver Valentine's cookies on Valentine's morning.

But this year the lead-up to Valentine's has seen me single-parenting quite a lot because of Geoff needing to work through a busy season, and so I had simply no time on my own over the weeks before Valentine's to go out and run the errands needed to make this happen.  At the beginning of the week, while in a craft store picking up a few things, I was at the checkout with the kids when my eyes happened upon a display of chocolate hearts on sticks.  I gasped and realized I'd done nothing for the kids for a Valentine chocolate gift, so I quickly distracted the kids with a different display and grabbed three little hearts-on-a-stick candies; I gave them to the cashier with a finger over my lips, and she fortunately caught on to my plea for silence, and quickly tucked them into a bag.  And it was a good thing because Matthew's first words on Valentine's Day morning, even before his eyes were open, were "oohhh, today is Valentine's and we're getting chocolate!"

Thankfully, I had actually thought through a Valentine's breakfast, so I was prepared on that front!

(below)

Do you think the kids were excited about their chocolate heart??

A couple of years ago, I began a tradition of serving up chocolate fondue on Valentine's Day.  This year, we invited a bunch of people over for a potluck dinner, and we enjoyed Toblerone milk and white chocolate fondue for dessert.  We dipped:  Bananas; orange segments; pineapple; strawberries; rice crispie balls; cake; mini marshmallows; shortbread cookies.  Yum!! (My favourite things to dip were the rice crispie balls - oh my!)

All in all, Valentine's was a lovely day around here and, chocolate and treats aside, I think we all felt the love flowing!