Are you a lover or a hater?
of Valentine’s Day, that is. Well, that’s kind of a tough question, because I’m both. On one hand, I do get annoyed a bit with all the commercialism that overrides many of our fine celebrations these days. I thought it a bit ridiculous that as I was ambling through Tar-jay today that the gaping place where the Valentine’s stuff was the other day is magically being stocked with Easter items. And just so we’re not missing a beat here, St. Pat’s day stuff was on the ends of the rows so it was not possible that you might be missing an opportunity to stock up on the very next holiday before it gets sucked up by the next one on the calendar.
My dearest hubby has not been overly fond of the day, as I believe legend has it he was let loose by a couple of women that shall remain nameless on this Hallmark proclaimed day of love. Now, I can rationally understand why he might not be too ga ga over this day. After being together over 15 years, I think it’s a reasonably safe guess that I’m shooting for the distance, and the heart filled holiday might not be so bad for him after all.
We tend to be kind of cyclical in our celebration of this event. I enjoy making a special dinner and picking up some candies or some little trinkets for the kids. I definitely do not feel the need to patronize a restaurant during this time frame because it’s generally crowded. They often only offer a special, romantic menu which also happens to be a price gouging on what they normally serve. Yeah, I’m ok with not needing to go out and celebrate. I think making a nice meal at home can be an even more lovely way to spend the evening than feeling ripped off in a loud crowded place where we can barely hear one another talking.
This love ritual is also a part of the day for kids in school too. Apparently, I was the evil mom this year because I didn’t participate in a candy/valentine exchange for either of my kids. To my relief, my eldest child didn’t receive any from the other kids. But the youngest, pretty much got a valentine of some sort from most of his classmates. I guess the teacher
handing out a list of the students names last week should have been my hint–but, I just was thinking, you know, I think he’s kind of getting old for the old valentine’s thing and he hates writing out all the cards. So you know what, guess I’ll just have to be the evil mom on that one.
Sometimes I get a little gift or card for my hubby, but this year it was just a nice dinner. I had a card in my hand, but it wasn’t quite right so I opted not to. That was good, because the hubby chose not to this year either. But, you know what, that’s ok, he’s had a grueling couple of weeks and I know he loves me.
I guess that’s the point I’m trying to make, no, I don’t really need Hallmark to tell me that I love my man or my kiddies. But, at the same time, it’s not such a bad thing to set aside time on a day that’s set aside for such things to tell those that you love that you love them. I like to think I tell them all the time that I love them, or better yet show them as I tend to think that sometimes the proof is in the pudding and things that you do can speak so much louder than just a few words can.
Even though you don’t HAVE to, take the time to tell those nearest and dearest that you do love them. After all, it couldn’t hurt, right?