Valentine's Day Mantel

Our days have been pretty full around here this past month.  All good, I'm so happy to report!  If you follow along on Instagram, you've had a small sampling of what's been going on.  Our daughter who is a freshman is out for basketball and she is our first child who has been out in high school for a sport besides golf.  There have been a lot of games and we don't even go to all the away ones!

Christmas has all been put away now.  Well, not the lights on the house...we'll get to them....someday soon I hope.  All of our garland we hang outside was so tattered and falling apart that this year it went in the trash.  That was hard to do as you know I don't like to throw too much.  But, we'd used it for at least 16 years all of them out in the elements.  They were "tired" as my husband would say.  That's how he describes our suburban, "tired".  Makes me laugh.  I may not be as gentle in my description of it, ha!

At the suggestion of my oldest daughter, I got out some of my vintage wedding photographs to decorate the mantel for Valentine's Day.

Actually all of these photographs came from my grandmother's album which my Mom gave me quite a few years ago.  It must have been a common practice to give to family members a nice photo of the couple.

I thought a couple of my antique cameras would be fitting to display with the photos.  Oh, I think these old cameras are wonderful!

The photos are just beautiful.

I had bought all the flowers at a clearance sale somewhere and forgot I had them until now when I went looking for "something" to add to the mantel.  I used the vintage crinkle ribbon I made from the old seam binding I had.  You can see a photo of the before here on Instagram.  It turned out just like I'd hoped.

My grandmother had the urge I guess to label right ON the photo....I was so discouraged about that when Mom gave me the album.  But, now, I've completely changed my mind. 

For one, I was free to pull the photos from the album and not worry about marking them someway who they were.

And secondly, I think it actually adds to the charm.  Grandma.  She died when I was in 7th grade and I have wonderful memories of her.

I helped care for the woman in this picture when I worked in the nursing home as an aide when I was in high school.  I think she was my great, great, aunt.

So, so much can be said about love and marriage and this blog isn't big enough! 

So, I'll just say that I pray often for the sanctity of marriage.

 Valentine's Day has become to me so much more than just about romantic love. 

It's about God's love for us.

It's about the choice that we make to love others: whether in marriage or in all our relationships.

The more we experience His love, the easier it is to love others. 

"Lord, please grant us the grace to feel your love."