I’ve been spending some time over the last week or so reminiscing about Valentine’s Days gone by. My memories of this holiday are in vivid color – Vivid reds, pastel pinks, lacy whites, chocolate browns. The dollhouse in this photo, built by Dad, reminds me of the pinks and whites of the holiday.
I wish I could see the colors in this snapshot, or rather, I wish it was in color. For that matter, I wish I could remember the day itself; it must have been Valentine’s Day 1953, I think. I have some memories almost that old, but this is not one of them.
I do remember the paper cutout Valentines, in their little white envelopes, that we exchanged with classmates in grade school. Sweet Dick and Jane sort of pictures, very fifties in dress and attitude. I no longer have any of mine, but I do have an example of a late forties or early fifties Valentine of this sort, signed to Terry from Bob XXXXX. Wonder what Mom thought of the verse on the card:
If my tricycle were built for two, the one on the back would be you!
If my tricycle were built for two, the one on the back would be you!
And I wish I had one of the mailboxes made of cardboard and construction paper, that we put our valentines in when we got to school, before they were distributed to our classmates. I remember the pleasure of carrying those valentines home from school and reading them again, and again.
I have three sweet Valentine’s Day memories from third grade.
One, walking with Dad past a lighted drugstore window, filled with hearts and chocolates, on a cold February evening.
Another, a visit to a warm, sugar-scented old fashioned bakery with lighted glass display cases, and cookies, cakes and sweets on the shelves. Mom bought a small personal size heart-shaped cake, just for me. I took it home in a small white cardboard box, and it lasted for at least two days. This picture I took on Tuesday at Chancellor’s Bakery in Albemarle Square, here in Charlottesville. Very much like the bakeries of the past.
The third, a heart- shaped box with chocolates, given to me by the boy next door. A first for me.
Thinking of chocolate, I recall the brownies I made in grade 12 for my then boyfriend Gary, an easy recipe melting chocolate chips into carnation milk, and once solid, cut into hearts using one of Mom’s shiny metal cooky cutters. I will need to ask Gary if he still remembers that Valentine’s Day in 1970, a year and a half before we married; I think he will say yes.
One, walking with Dad past a lighted drugstore window, filled with hearts and chocolates, on a cold February evening.
Another, a visit to a warm, sugar-scented old fashioned bakery with lighted glass display cases, and cookies, cakes and sweets on the shelves. Mom bought a small personal size heart-shaped cake, just for me. I took it home in a small white cardboard box, and it lasted for at least two days. This picture I took on Tuesday at Chancellor’s Bakery in Albemarle Square, here in Charlottesville. Very much like the bakeries of the past.
The third, a heart- shaped box with chocolates, given to me by the boy next door. A first for me.
Thinking of chocolate, I recall the brownies I made in grade 12 for my then boyfriend Gary, an easy recipe melting chocolate chips into carnation milk, and once solid, cut into hearts using one of Mom’s shiny metal cooky cutters. I will need to ask Gary if he still remembers that Valentine’s Day in 1970, a year and a half before we married; I think he will say yes.
Flowers feature in my Valentine’s memories. Green-wrapped bouquets, long white cardboard boxes, carnations, tulips, roses, baby’s breath. I remember the fresh, moist scent of florist shops with large cooled glass-enclosed shelves, filled with cut flowers of all sorts. The flower pictures I also took on Tuesday, at the Fresh Market in Albemarle Square. A different venue than the florist shops of my memory, perhaps, but what beautiful flowers.
I don’t seem to have many pictures of Valentine’s Days while we were raising our children. For me, at least, digital photography has made picture-taking so much easier, not to mention eliminating the costs of buying film and getting it printed, an important consideration for a young family. It would have been fun to have had digital technology then.
But I do have this snapshot that we took on Valentine’s Day, sometime in the mid eighties, with all four of our children seated around the formica-topped table in our kitchen, displaying Valentine-themed gingerbread houses they had made using graham crackers, icing, red hots, conversation hearts . A warm memory for sure.
What is it about holidays and the abundance of memories they provide? I could spend hours (well, actually, I have spent hours over the last week or so) calling Valentine's Day memories slowly back to consciousness, each memory leading to another, and the past melding into the present, year after year.
What is it about holidays and the abundance of memories they provide? I could spend hours (well, actually, I have spent hours over the last week or so) calling Valentine's Day memories slowly back to consciousness, each memory leading to another, and the past melding into the present, year after year.