If you happen by our house on Valentine's Day, you will find the sap flowing, as they say back East. There, my two kids and I will be in pink and red and lace, making silly cards, baking excessively sweet stuff in the kitchen and delivering maudlin presents. You might get a more accurate view of everyday life when you hear me howling about the Valentine's Day cookie flour on the kitchen floor, put there by a spit-and-run "flour-breathing dragon." But basically, you will find mush.

For me, this goes back nine years, to a February 14 in what now seems like the age of the pterosaurs, when my boyfriend proposed. He made his persuasive remarks on video and spliced them onto the end of that Fred and Ginger movie CAREFREE. Pure schmaltz, I know.

So I'm particularly sweet on this holiday, and with our kids, Nick and Georgia, I go all out. While the appeal of the kissing business eludes them, the excessiveness of the day is just the way they like things. They think hearty pancakes for breakfast are perfect. Plus, of course, they don't mind the candy, the cards in their mailbox, or even watching Papa's marriage proposal on video.

Here are 10 ways, besides speaking in a French accent, that you can fan the flames of red-hot like. It's our celebration of best friends, classmates and (if they've been civil) siblings. You can do all 10 for a really schmaltzy day, but we wouldn't. Yuck.

Lynne Bertrand, a contributing editor to FAMILYFUN, lives in Williamsburg, Massachusetts.