Valentine’s Day is on a Sunday this year. And I, for one, am glad.

I tend to over-complicate holidays. I build up expectations – whether it’s Christmas, my birthday, or Valentine’s Day – and then I try to compensate for my skyscraper expectations by telling myself it doesn’t matter what happens, it’s just another day, and blahblahblah.

I can’t deny that I like special days to be, well, special. But I can plan to use the day to bless others instead of creating impossible standards for my husband/others to meet.

So the fact that this day falls on a Sunday is a good thing in my book. It means the day will mostly be spent with church family + we’ll have extra friends here for lunch. With lunch in mind, I decided to attempt a non-typical Sunday lunch. This means something that doesn’t equal crockpot, scrambled eggs or leftovers.

While browsing through my recipe book for ideas, I came across this creamy tomato shrimp pasta. Perfect. I’ll pair it with french bread + ceasar salad to make it extra delish. And for dessert, I’m either going to make molten lava cakes (#2 on this list) or brownies. Because chocolate is pretty much a no-brainer for this girl.

Sometime ago I read about writing love notes for your children on Valentine’s Day. I’ve always loved the idea – and always forgotten about it until it’s too late. So I’m planning to write those notes tonight so they’re ready to give to my littles on Sunday morning. I want the notes to be what I love about them this year so that we can look back on them when they’re older and see how they’ve developed over the years.

Focusing on things like creating a special lunch for others and writing love notes to my family make me excited for Sunday. I suppose that’s because I’m focusing on others instead of myself. Huh. Who would have thought? 😉

If you, like me, tend to over-complicate the holidays, here are some reads I think you’ll find worthwhile:

on keeping valentine’s day simple
//
the invitation to love
{a free 10 day devotional from Paul Tripp}
//
love is dirty
//
and to add a little levity to the situation, watch this.
preferably with a child on your lap who will also find it hilarious.

Whatever your plans are for this weekend, I trust it will be a time when you learn more about God’s perfect, self-less love for you.
Happy Valentine’s Day!