A Very Sweet Valentine's Day full of Tradition

     For as long as I can remember, our family has made giant frosted Valentine's Day cookies for each other.

     We can place the blame onto my mother.  Mom began making these either when we were very young - too young to remember - or possibly for my dad after they were married.  I don't know.  I forgot to ask them last night when we were at their home.

     But ever since Kelsi was one or two years old, I've followed in my mom's footsteps and made the traditional giant frosted sugar cookies for my family!

     I choose my favorite sugar cookie recipe and then usually double or triple it.  This year, my mom blessed me with already baked cookies she had prepared since I was going to be away for the entire weekend before Valentine's Day.  She had baked four giant cookie hearts for the four of us in my own family, and then she had used the remainder of the dough to make smaller heart cookies that we would be frosting. 

     On Sunday evening, the girls and I arrived back into town, unpacked, took our neighbor out to dinner for her birthday, shopped for the ingredients to make non-dairy frosting, came home and made a quadruple batch of frosting, and then headed over to my parents' home for our cookie frosting and decorating party!

     The center of the giant cookie hearts was stacked with a delicious homemade peppermint patty heart.  This is one of our traditions as well...and my favorite part!  Yum!

     Everyone was very happy with their giant decorated heart-shaped cookies this morning.  We will all probably be on a sugar high for the next few days, so I'm thankful that this occurs only once a year!  We do enjoy it so much.

     For lunch on Valentine's Day, Brittany decided to surprise us with a special lunch!  How could I resist that?  She made...

Pink Heart-Shaped Pancakes with Red Syrup

     and she also took the time to bundle up our silverware nicely as well as decorate the dining room table.

     For dinner, which has no photos to show for it, I decided to use up some of the ingredients in our own home and prepare a less expensive holiday meal that way.  I made coconut chicken (divine!), potato gnocchi, and thin asparagus.  And of course, we snacked on the giant heart-shaped cookies after dinner!

     We finished up the evening with watching an old, romantic favorite, "Sleepless in Seattle."  Nice.

     How did your family choose to celebrate Valentine's Day?  Did any of you purpose to do this in a frugal manner?