My mother was a reluctant cook, yet she still managed to acknowledge every single holiday with food, starting with breakfast. St. Patrick's Day meant green grits. (We are Southern, after all.) On your birthday, you could be sure there would be candles in your pancakes. April Fool's Day, when you might find cotton balls in your scrambled eggs or a plastic rat in your cereal, was kind of the worst.

As we got older, we groaned at her efforts, rolling our eyes in the way teenagers do, but my mother's stylings in the kitchen kept things fun, even on a cold morning before school in February.

So when I found a heart shaped egg cooker, I knew what I had to do. An egg scrambled with a little bit of frozen spinach, served over a piece of bacon in place of Cupid's arrow, was a hit last year and I've decided to make it a Valentine's Day tradition. It may not be perfect, but it's healthy enough and the children love it. (The older ones pretend not to care, sticking their tongues into their cheeks, a universal adolescent boy maneuver they use to avoid smiling over sappy things they secretly love. Adolescent girls usually roll their eyes instead. Sexist observation? Maybe. But watch for it.)

Have you ever done anything goofy to food in the name of love? How do you make holidays special?

Related: Breakfast Fun: Spell Things With Your Pancakes

(Image: Anne Postic)