All the stores are full of Valentines, Valentine's Day candy, and doo dads. The dime stores in Aberdeen (for awhile, we actually had two of them) had the Valentines that you either cut out or punch out, and you wanted to buy yours as soon as they were on the shelves. I don't remember seeing all the things that are in the stores today - pens, pencils, talking stuffed animals, etc. - only the cards and boxes of candy.

About a week before Valentine's Day, we had to decorate a Valentine box to take to our classroom; it would hold all the Valentines we received from classmates. A shoe box was the ideal base for the box we planned to cover with red, pink, and white crepe paper, paper doilies, and massive globs of glitter. We also cut out tons of paper hearts to stick on the box, along with our name prominently displayed somewhere. The big day finally came, and we very carefully carried the box into our classroom, where it was displayed on a table with everyone else's. Selections of which Valentines and to whom to give them were made several days ahead of time. You didn't give a Valentine to everyone in the class; you certainly didn't want some random boy to think you were madly in love with him just because you gave him a Valentine!

The one Valentine we girls hoped to get was one that had a real lollipop (red) threaded through the card. It was so special, and you just knew that that boy was probably going to grow up and marry you because he gave you such a cool Valentine. In the afternoon, the homeroom mothers would come and bring cookies and punch. No one seemed to worry about sugar or red food dye or food allergies back then, and I don't remember anyone collapsing or going into shock from eating homemade cookies and punch.

We even had the little conversation hearts back then - the ones that taste like an antacid to me, although Arnie loves them. He actually mailed a small box of those hearts to me in college just to see if they would really go through the mail. They did. There was a space on the back side of the box for a name and address. The post office would probably throw them out today; I wonder what it cost him back then in the 60s?

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day, and I hope you get that big box of premium chocolates I know you want!