My mother was the Holiday Ho while I grew up. Not that I mean that in a bad way! She was always there with valentines and candy, green cupcakes at St. Paddy’s day, Easter baskets, amazing 4th of July desserts, Halloween treats, Thanksgiving feasts, and the best Christmas presents. The thing is, she was ALWAYS THERE for every single holiday.
Me? Not so much. Oh, I show my love. I remembered yesterday to buy the valentine cookies at the grocery store. I was stumbling around at 6:00am, looking for coffee beans because I had a ton of pages to edit still and needed COFFEE. The valentine cookies were a side benefit. However, they did the trick this morning – I put one in a baggie for my 17 y/o son, and two in a baggie for his girlfriend. He grinned at me – I’m sure he completely forgot Valentine’s Day. It’s his first girlfriend – if she can’t train him, then she’ll at least get a couple of heart shaped cookies.
I will have you know that I did make the evening meal special. Don’t laugh, I did! I made my favorite turkey with fresh sage meatloaf, shaped into individual heart-shaped servings. Add a terrific cider-onion gravy and voila, love (and dinner) from the heart. Hand-dipped chocolate strawberries are for dessert.
As I’ve been writing this, though, the smoke alarm has gone off three times because of the meatloaf; the potatoes won’t mash right; and the broccoli looks funny.
But hey – it’s the thought that counts, right? Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hi Christine!
Great blog. I laughed out loud at the smoke alarm part. I tend to go extremely overboard when it comes to Christmas and Thanksgiving. I think the credit goes to my family and how they categorized the holidays when I was growing up. The end of the year holidays were always a big deal. Everything in between was considered dress rehearsal. Again, great post and dinner sounds DELICIOUS!
Jae Lynne, I used to LOVE making a big to-do over holidays. But I’ve got a husband who’s bought me one card – to go with the very-first-ever gift he gave me, the summer I was 17 and we danced in Midsummer Night’s Dream together. My sons actually forgot to get hubby a Christmas gift one year – I was that busy and, well – they are boys. So My Holiday Ho-ness has dissipated over the years, I’m sorry to say!
You got that right, Christine. It’s the thought that counts. I bet the heart shaped turkey meatloafs tasted great!
I made banana pancakes for dinner! ha ha. It’s fun to turn things upside down once in a while. Did serve a little heart shaped cake with Kiss Me written on top.
Call me a Holiday ho if you want, I’ll wear the tag gladly.
Lynne, the turkey meatloafs (with cider-onion gravy) were FANTASTIC! Let me know if you want the recipe.
And, I used to be a Holiday Ho. I am looking forward to having grandchildren some day, so I can be that again…
Christine,
I was assembling valentine’s day cards last night for my two sons to exchange at school. Assemble?? I don’t remember doing this as a kid. Now all the cards have pencils, stickers, kid tattoos, etc… It took me over an hour last night to prep 40 cards, but the effort was so worth the smiles I received from my kids. A Slave to my childrens’ happiness.
Jean
Jean, aren’t we ALL slaves to our children? Until they reach a certain age, and then they become OUR slaves…bwua ha ha ha!
I hear you. I used to decorate for every holiday when my girls were little. It was required behavior in our neighborhood, but now that they’re grown and out of the house – not so much. I think I burned out on the whole decorating thing. That’s how we ended up on a Caribbean cruise for Christmas, and you know where that led!
Roz Lee
Roz, of course it led to everything good! Everyone, pick up Roz’s The Lust Boat – you won’t regret it!
I’ve always wanted to be a holiday ho but seriously, who has the time? LOL My family always went all out for the holidays and I loved it. I wish I could have done more when the kids were little but back then we didn’t have the money for it. Now that they are older (17 & 18) they just don’t care but they are boys. I’ve done more the past couple of years but it’s mostly just for the hubby and me because we like it. Next year we’re talking about Aruba for New Years though! And as traditional as I am…I think I’m pretty okay with that idea!
Laura, Aruba for New Year’s? You can lift a glass of champagne in ANY country to celebrate the turning of the year, my dear! Sounds FABULOUS!
I like the big holidays — sort of — and it might be different if I had a kid, but the one I helped raise spent her early childhood with my eejit older brother claiming to be a Jehovah Witness and holidays when she lived with us were — challenging. She wanted them. She didn’t. Was she supposed to rebel against her dad and celebrate? Or me and not? She’s better now that she has kids of her own. Still I don’t fully get days like Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s, etc… they all seem weird to me, but maybe that’s me rebelling against my mom, another holiday ho. Me, not so much and VD seems worse than most, but that’s another soap box. Your post made me laugh out loud. It is the thought that counts. Bet the strawberries were delicious!
It is absolutely the thought that counts. My thirteen year old daughter got a big bouque of flowers. Hubby looked at them, gurumphed and continued to cook me dinner. V-Day is just another day in our house. But, we show each other we care when it counts-every other day. I’m curious about the heart-shaped meatloaf. Almost choked on my Diet DP when I read that. lol. Have a great day!
Oh I am a holiday ho! Love the title!