Ideas for St Valentines day..

Activities that promote discussion..

Listen to some stories of romance
 At Storynory you can download stories for free

Watch a romantic film.- obviously your choice will depend on the age of your kids , how about;
Love Story
Love Actually.
Cinderella - maybe a modern day version like Maid in Manhattan or Pretty Woman
Roman Holiday or another Audrey Hepburn film.
The Time Travellers Wife
Titanic
The Princess Bride
Shrek
.....the list is endless! A Disney list here

Make an appreciation tree. Cut out paper hearts, each heart should have the name of one family member on it, distribute them to family members who then write something they appreciate about every person on the heart with that person's name. Hang the hearts on a branch and place in a jug on the table.

I am going to give my family a quest this year - the one that can find the best definition of true love will win a chocolate heart.

Any other ideas?

St Valentine's Day.

We do not celebrate saints days except for one or two - St Valentines day is one of those exceptions. He is the patron saint of love and love is the very essence of God  who we worship in all our celebrations. To love as God loves is to what we aspire  in our relationships. In our commitment wary and self centred culture of today I would like my children to learn what true love is , and indeed remind myself  of its  height and depth and breadth.

'Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. it does not demand it's own way. It is not irritable, and keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices when ever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never looses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance'

1Corinthians 13:4-7

Red roses or heart shaped chocolate boxes do not feature in our celebrations; I do bake a heart shaped chocolate cake for dessert though! But activities that provoke interesting discussions become increasingly pertinent as my children head into the teenage years.

A happy discovery for someone who loves books was that the 14th of February is also International Book Giving Day  What better way to spread love and cheer around on a chilly February day than to give a book away. So, this year our St Valentines Day plans include leaving some books lying around for others to find, maybe in a cafe or a bus stop - I hope they are blessed.

Zoe at playing by the book  also has suggestions  that are relevant to the UK.

Do you celebrate St Valentine?  What do you do?

Our Candlemas plans.

To celebrate we are going to:

Make beeswax candles to decorate the house and our table.

The children are going to make and perform a shadow puppet  show of the story of the presentation. The theatre is already finished - made from a cardboard box and baking parchment.To make the puppet figures we use free downloaded colouring pages as templates and trace on to card.
(This idea comes from the book The Year and our Children by Mary Newland Reed.)

http://www.sermons4kids.com/simeon_abda_colorpg.htm
http://www.sermons4kids.com/simeon-anna-colorpg.htm
http://www.calvary-kids-pages.com/cm60.html
http://frontpage.velocity.net/roaminka/EACH/colorpages/presentation.gif

Share a fondue meal with friends. I also plan to serve pretzels to represent the arms of Simeon and black olives to represent Anna , who was a widow. (If you want more ideas for food to serve at Candlemas try Alice's blog.)

Listen to some great music.