Slathered with Love

Remember when you were a kid how exciting it was to get Valentines? Valentine’s Day was truly a celebration. First your teacher had you bring in an old shoe box with a lid that you proudly decorated with doilies, red and pink construction paper hearts, and anything else creative little minds could think of to make their box special. You shopped for the themed box Valentine collection that best suited you and had the messages you wanted to send. All boxes had a Valentine for the teacher and a few extra special messages for people you were particularly fond of. In my case that would have been Douglas Schaffer, my first grade sweetheart. Those Levis with the rolled up leg, the plaid shirt, and the little Dab-o–Do in the his hair made me weak in the knees.

The night before the big day you would get out the classmate list that your teacher had run off on the Ditto machine and you carefully selected who was to get which Valentine. Gosh, I loved the smell of that purple ink!!!! You wanted to make sure you didn’t leave anyone out but you also wanted to make sure everyone got the right message. One message in particular that I remember said “ Meet me on the 98” or maybe it was the 99. In any event, as a kid I was not sure what was going to happen on the 98 but it sounded exhilarating to me.

Then there was the encoding of your name in numbers that corresponded to the letters of the alphabet on the back of the Valentine. I was 18-15-2-9-14. Valentine’s Day certainly was filled with anticipation as we looked forward to the room-mothers bringing in treats and the opportunity to play Postmaster.

I think what made it even more exciting was that the teacher would not let us open our boxes until we got home. There the decoding process began. And when we realized that the kid that always had his finger up his nose gave us a mushy valentine and we screamed “YUCK” no one would be embarrassed by our reaction. I guess that was why our teacher did that. She was trying to teach of about sensitivity to others.

Reminiscing about Valentine’s Day sure is fun. So as this Valentine’s Day draws near we hope you take a minute to think about all the ways you have celebrated over the years and find some exciting ways to celebrate this year with your loved ones.

Slather Brand Foods has developed some wonderful recipes like Slathered Dark Chocolate Truffles to help you celebrate. Our wish for you is that no matter how you decide to celebrate that you will “Slather and Be Slathered with Love”.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Photo credit: flickr user karen horton