All week I’ve felt like Charlie Brown, checking the mailbox for valentines. No one sends anyting snail mail any more, it makes me kind of sad.

That’s not to say that there hasn’t been and won’t continue to be all kinds of celebrating. I’m on my way now to the most important event of the holiday – The Class Valentine Parties.

Pizza for Annabelle’s class and low-fat frozen yogurt for Sophie’s. (Seriously. What happened to cupcakes with that horrible/wonderful frosting from Safeway? Totally banned at school. A travesty. We might get busted for the pizza and I was already told no M&M’s for the yogurt sundaes.)

And the highlight, the thing that trumps all treats, the delivery of the valentines.

The other day I heard a mom announce her kid was just signing his name on all of his valentines, rather than putting each kids’ name on them. I looked at her in horror. “I have a boy, okay?” she said, and we both cracked up. (For the record, she’s an awesome mom. And, okay, she might read this. But she really is an awesome mom.)

Yeah, maybe I take these things too seriously.

For better or worse, I’ve handed that down to Annabelle, who not only insisted on writing each kid’s name on a small piece of paper she cut out and glued onto a foam heart (pink cupcake paper for the girls, blue stripes for the boys), she also personalized each with something she likes about every kid in the class.

Teddy is “silly,” Ben F. is “cute,” Nathan’s a “good reader,” Katie’s “very helpful.” Isabelle: “good student.” Emma: “you ‘know’ fashion.”

Ray flipped through them the other night after the girls were asleep, and even he was impressed, though he noticed that several boys did get just “Happy Valentines Day!” when Annabelle was stumped for a descriptor. 

“I’d be crushed if all I got was “Happy Valentine’s Day!” he announced. I have to say that he seemed a little jealous of Ben F.

I’ll be honest. Annabelle’s won’t be the fanciest of the lot. She insisted on writing in pencil, so you can’t see the words very well, and the paper’s not cut neatly. But, as the saying goes, it’s the thought that counts. And so my valentine message to Annabelle is the one she reserved for her BFF’s card:

“You rock!”