It was like Christmas in our house this morning. The Valentine Rubbermaid made its 2009 debut.

I meant to wait til all evidence of the last holiday was gone, but knowing Ray that could be months, and we needed to switch out Sophie’s little bribe at school. It’s one of the things that has made this year work, so far: We don’t really bribe her with stuff as much as the thought of it — at first she worked each morning and afternoon for five “Elmos,” cardboard cutouts laminated and velcroed to a small board on her work space. When she bored of that, we switched it out to holiday ornaments, which of course were obsolete yesterday morning when she showed up for school. Whoops.

So the Rubbermaid Valentine box came out. I don’t do a lot right as a mother — I’m the firs to admit it, if only to beat you to saying it yourself — but I give myself a hearty pat on the back for the Holiday Rubbermaids. Even my mom’s copied me, with her own version. If you can make yourself wait a year to open the box (and you have a bad memory, as I do) the whole thing will be a surprise: kid artwork from years past; Valentine stuff bought on sale post-holiday and crammed into the box; all sorts of pink, red and white treat bags, stickers, cards and even a hole punch in there somewhere, in the shape of a heart.

It’s fun because the crafts I bought when Annabelle was 6 months old are finally stuff the girls can use themselves (I got a little ahead of myself, ok?) and each year the art evolves. I dug around this morning and found some suitable Valentine stuff for Sophie’s bribe board, then snapped the top back in place, intending to wait til the tree is gone.

But it will be hard to keep that lid on….