Valentine surprise...delayed

When we were first married...Valentine's day brought about tears and lots of scrambling.

As I stated last year in this post, I associate 'receiving' with 'loving.'  My hubby on the other hand, associates 'being with' someone with 'loving' them.  It won't take a far stretch of the imagination to realize how disillusioned I was when a major holiday like Valentine's Day rolled around!  After a year or so he got the idea, but then he'd rush out at the last minute and buy that overpriced bouquet of flowers, or the standard box of candy.  This is the man who wooed me with poems, and scrapbooks.  I KNEW he had it in him!

The thing is he doesn't appreciate the pressure.  He would rather decide on his OWN to be creative, than to be told by society that he SHOULD do something on a particular date.

Jarrod saw the celebration of St. Valentine as a fake holiday conjured up by master manipulators to force people into spending their money on worthless tokens of affection.  His reasoning:  Don't I show you I love you every day of the year?   Well, yes, but um, I need more.....sounded like a LAME response!

The fact remains that I enjoy decorating, creating, buying, and otherwise blessing those I love with gifts on any occasion.  But major holidays are a MUST! 

Thankfully, with the arrival of our kids I had a distraction and other subjects to dote on....though I never gave up on my hubby.  I just stopped expecting anything...so the smallest things would be a surprise.

Valentine's Day this year was no different.  In fact, since we were in the middle of caring for Merrick, I didn't really have the chance to shop a lot or to get super creative with our Valentine gifts.  I was happy to gather some unique candy for the kids, and for Jarrod.  

Jarrod on the other hand, was looking forward and stepping outside of his comfort zone.  

He ordered a gorgeous bunch of roses to be delivered to the house, and then he headed over to Etsy. 

I had been abusing Courtney ever since Christmas when the flash that Jarrod bought for her refused to fit into my camera backpack.  So I resorted to toting Courtney in my huge purse.....GASP!  What a terrible camera owner..... I KNOW!

Well at Christmas time I had set up a Universal Gift List on Amazon....and I had featured this seller...Gypsyrose who makes Snugglens DSLR camera bags.  I loved the gorgeous fabric she used and the obvious care she took in creating each bag.  After all, this would be a major accessory for me, as well as it needed to protect a MAJOR investment!  The price was not small, and the fabrics were often out of stock.

Well, imagine my surprise when Jarrod included a note in my Valentine's recording.  He said to watch out for a special delivery in the mail any day now.  He had ordered it on February 2nd...only to find out that it would take 2-3 weeks to make the bag to his specifications.

I waited and waited, and just last week Courtney's new travel bag arrived in the mail.....the bag is lovely!

It features a happy brown and pink design that is very cheery.  The fact that my hubby picked it out, special ordered it and kept it a surprise for Valentine's day just sweetens the deal! 

I love him so!

Even after 10 years....he still keeps me guessing!

As a funny side note....the above picture shows my new bag next to Janel's new bag.....both ordered by our hubbies, who HAD NOT talked to each other about their surprise! Too funny huh?  It's like our bags are adopted creations from the same family :D

Wow, I REALLY to stop personifying inanimate objects!

Here's to keeping each other on our toes!