Valentines Day: Sharing the Love
Valentines Day. If you are young enough and the
adults around you have a positive attitude, this can be quite the day! Just
short of birthday party status, but perhaps better in the long term because it
can be managed without nap, Valentines Day is a day I appreciate. At my current
church, however, I have failed the past five years to participate in the
Preschool Valentines Day exchange.
The past five years, I did not remember until the 14th that
it would have been a great plan to hand out Valentines from the church to our
kids. I was then filled with regret for at least two days, before moving on to worrying about some other missed opportunity.
This year was different. I remembered, and remembered early enough to
make a plan.
The first step was inquiring if it would be ok
to participate, and if so how many Valentines I would need to prepare. The
answer was an enthusiastic yes and after three different adults counted, we figured
out I would need 53 Valentines to be distributed over the course of two days (hot tip, just ask the Preschool Director and make a couple extras for teachers and folks who drop by during the day).
Information in hand, I set out to handcraft the
Valentines. I chose a simple heart shape, and traced it onto heavy weight
scrapbook paper. On the reverse side, I stamped a goofy cactus with a message
of “I’m stuck on you,” that we acquired for the church craft cabinet last year
for Valentine craft night. I then attached an organic heart-shaped lollipop. I
had given a bag to my neighbor kid for his birthday, and he ate several all at
once, so I figured they had passed the test. Next year, I'll incorporate this project into either the adult Sunday School class during the preceding few weeks and/or a Wednesday worship craft night so that church members can participate. I did get a head start on cutting out the hearts when I found a stash I had saved from last year's multi-generational heart-garland craft night project.
I did not embark on this project with a
measurable goal in mind, other than to be sure I had enough hearts and lollipops to go
around, but that’s ok. Sometimes you just want to spread the love by letting
people know you care about them. The majority of the recipients are not old enough to read and the kids in the infant room probably aren't old enough for the lollipops but it's that kind of luxurious crafting that I think conveys a message to their parents that the church cares about them and consider their families part of our extended community.
Happy Valentines Day!
SA, Sabbath Artist
No comments:
Post a Comment