St. Valentine's Day... and Other Poorly Timed Feast Days...

Allow me to vent some pre-Lenten frustration by saying that some feast days are just really poorly timed. Not that we hype up St. Valentine's Day too much around here but there's something downright uncomfortable about giving or receiving chocolates and such the day after Ash Wednesday.

Here Darling... Your favorite goodies. I know you can't eat them but aren't they lovely? I wasn't going to buy them but I thought that it would be good for the training of your will... mortification, sacrifice, all for the greater glory of God! Happy St.Valentine's Day! Would you like me to hide them for you... until Easter?

I'm really tempted to say something like the following to the kids on St. Valentine's Day...

Good morning, children. As you know, today is the feast of St. Valentine. It is on this great feast that we memorialize the life of this saint and recall his great love for God... and his martyrdom. In the spirit of such sacrifice, we are going to put on sack cloth and ashes and fast all day. Today, we will only eat brussel sprouts and fish crackers. And we will do it all cheerfully.

I'm thinking that might not go over well though. So instead, we're giving them each a new holy card and a small bag of cookies. We are also going to visit friends for a St. Valentine's Day party at which they will likely consume more sweets (including the goodie bags we made pictured at the top of this post) and have far more fun than I think is legally permissible on the second day of Lent. Please forgive me for not being overly interested in preparing any culinary-centered Fat Tuesday treats or celebrations. I just cannot keep up the sugared pace! (Those king cakes on Pinterest are so clever but the problem is that somebody would end up having to eat one if we made it.)

For St. Valentine's gifts for the kids, we found these cards at our local Catholic shop...

...And I'm pretty sure that I will make these pink cookies. Deal with it, boys, they're cookies... the stomach does not have eyes... and mama loves pink. :)

The cards and cookies will go into a cute little baggie which will promptly be dismantled and tossed aside upon receipt. The cards will be put onto dresser tops, into treasure chests, or into special pockets, the cookies will be consumed... and then...

... like the big, bad, mean mother that I am, I will confiscate their hoards of party and grandparent candy so that they will not be allowed access to any of it.

Until St. Patrick's Day, of course. 

(Honestly, I think these were really minor feast days until too many people decided to give up chocolate and beer for Lent. But that's pure speculation, of course.)