a few years ago, my wife and i decided to rethink valentine’s day.

valentine’s day has always been a challenge. there are so many factors that sabotage the day, like . . .
kids getting sick
paying a sitter, but then not being able to afford to go out
the crowds
money for buying gifts coming out of the family budget.

so most valentine’s day dinners consisted of ordering take-out from the chinese restaurant for the whole family, and gifts usually ended up being something practical for our home.

we’ve had quite a few valentine’s days together, and a few years ago we were ready for something different.

so we created the valentine’s day challenge.

each year, we decide a theme and compete to get one another a gift in that category.

the first year was craziest thing made of chocolate. i won with a chocolate can of beans (yes, the chocolate was in the shape of a bean can) that read, “Happy birthday, you old fart.”

the second year was something with Valentine’s Day on it. jennifer won with an assortment of dollar store style items like tattoos and glasses. i lost on a technicality. i went for the laugh with an item that didn’t have valentine’s on it. (i can’t even remember what it was, now.)

the third year was funniest ecard. i actually printed out several funny ones, she found just one. a 70s, smooth, barry-white singing hamsters. it’s hard to compete with that.

this year, the challenge was something handmade.

i love comic books. so my wife found images of my favorites and decoupaged the images on to letters, spelling out my name.

i made a diorama of our relationship. from wedding to now, including the homes we’ve lived, pictures of our kids, etc.

here are our entries in this year’s challenge.

jennifer won. she’s not crafty at all, but the she totally pulled it off. one of my boys said, “mom blew you out of the water with that one.” he was right.

we still go out to eat, just not on valentine’s. and the gifts are exchanged on a mutually agreed upon deadline.

but it makes valentine’s day more interesting.

our lives are crazy enough, and once a year we get to inject a little more fun into our adventure.

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