All Things Valentine….And More!

 

How Do I Love Thee?  

Let me count the ways!

I AM a romantic, you know that about me.

AND I absolutely love Valentine’s Day.

Last year, I put together this little Valentine’s Day vignette and I wanted to share it again with you…hopefully for inspiration.

It doesn’t take much to get your cupid goin’ on, many times you can look around your home and find things to corral together and place on a tray or in a basket.

Yes, I have heard all the critics say Valentine’s Day was created by greeting card companies just to sell cards and flowers and candy.

I say…So what?

What is wrong with greeting cards and flowers and candy?

And knights in shining armor…and true love and Cupid and all that romantic stuff?

But just to keep the record straight….here is a little bit of trivia about Valentine’s Day.

The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery.

And I do love a mystery.

We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. 

Apparently, there really was a man named Valentine and many legends have him as a saint, but there are widely conflicting stories of romance and prisons and intrigue that one is not sure what to believe.

During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of  February was a perfect time for Valentine’s Day and it should be reserved as a day for romance. sigh!

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400.

The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (Another prison story)

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia.

In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century.

By the middle of the 18th century, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by the 1900’s, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology.

But before the printed cards…during the 1840’s, there were those in the United States who added ribbons, lace and pretty red paper to their hand made valentines.

As for me, I will always be the romantic heroine watching patiently as the man of my dreams (the Captain) showers me with pretty little rose petals, dozens and dozens of pink roses and heart shaped boxes of dark chocolate candy while standing beneath my ivory tower, serenading me with love songs….while sitting atop a white stallion.

                           OK, that ain’t happenin’….

……at least not quite like that.  

However, the Captain always gets me a lovely Valentine’s Day card and we either have a romantic dinner at home (which we both prefer) or we go out to dinner and a movie….very early in the day. 

No crowds please.

In the meantime, in order to get my “Valentine fix”…I have created a Valentine’s Day Hot Chocolate Bar Vignette.

I wrote on my blackboard, Valentine’s Day, Hot Chocolate Bar which was fun. I felt like I was in school again writing on the blackboard! 🙂  

I assembled a few mason jars and tied red and white gingham bows around the tops.

 I added marshmallows, red and pink sprinkles, Dove dark chocolates (YUM), little sweetheart candies, and spoons dipped in milk chocolate.

I tied a red bandana around the hot chocolate pot and rolled up a few more bandanas, tied them with the red and white gingham ribbon and placed them in initialed mugs.

I just love the cute heart shaped spoons sitting on a stack of plates in the corner. A few straws and vintage valentines complete my hot chocolate bar. 

The little bear valentine in the front reminds me of the valentines we used to exchange in elementary school. 🙂

You might remember the Hot Cocoa Bar (see pic above) I created last year using a re-purposed hutch and plywood left over from another project.

You can see that post here.

Meanwhile, I will also have another tablescape that I would like to share with you that can have dual purposes….but that will be in a day or two post.  

It was sooooo fun to put together, made me feel like a kid again in more ways than one.

Blessings to all you Valentines out there!