Love Languages

A friend on Facebook linked to a post called  "Creating Your Own 'Love Languages" , by Jon Acuff on "Stuff Christians Like."  I'd urge you to click on the link and go read his post before you read mine.  At any rate, I was inspired to think about the love languages in my "Family of Five."  Without further ado, here is the list I came up with.

1.  Rubber chickens. That was a family love language in the past, but then my oldest son ate it in his sleep, or so the theory goes.  We had a rubber chicken who showed up in all sorts of odd places.  I can remember going to bed one night only to find the rubber chicken laying in my bed with his head on my pillow, my covers pulled up to his chin, wearing my t-shirt.  And there is nothing like finding a rubber chicken in your underwear drawer to make a person feel loved.   Hmmm, maybe I need to invest in a new rubber chicken. 

2. Chocolate, both to give and receive - there is a fine art to finding out what kind of chocolate a person likes and then giving it to them, and if someone finds out I like dark chocolate (about 72% cocao) and gives it to me, I KNOW I am loved!  I know that one of my kids can be paid for doing extra chores if I pay her in chocolate, particularly in Reese's Cups.  One of my kids will almost kill for a Twix.  One of them prefers chocolate with coffee flavored candy.  And one, who has an allergy that makes chocolate off-limits for him, prefers Skittles, which are his equivalent of chocolate. 

3.  Jon Acuff mentioned sarcasm in his post, and sarcasm is definitely on my list. You know, that playful "I'm so comfortable with you that I can be sarcastic with you" feeling is a good one!  In our house, sarcasm is a second language, one that my children seem to speak better than plain old English some days.  And it almost always provokes laughter, even in the one who could potentially be offended by it. 

4. Camping. If you are willing to go camping with me and put up with my fear of snakes, skunks and storms, you must love me, and if I am willing to sleep outside with you, then I must love you.   Let me tell you, the family who sets up camp together and breaks down camp together without hurting each other on purpose is indeed a loving family, even though we might not sound like it while we are in the midst of it.  And one of my fondest memories is of the time when a huge storm rolled through late at night while we were camping.  The boys joined the girls and me in our larger tent, and as I sat there praying that we wouldn't all be struck by the non-stop lightning, I looked around at my youngest, huddled on my air mattress with me, my girls trying to be brave, and my oldest son laying across the doorway to "protect" us, and I knew that I am indeed blessed with a loving family!

5. Laughter.  My kids and I laugh together a lot.  We can find the funny side of almost any situation, if not during, at least in retrospect.  I honestly believe that laughter is not only medicine, but one of the best love-languages there is!

So there you have it, my additions to the list of love languages.  What are some of the unique love languages in your family?