Well, Hallmark has beat me! That's right, the isles are already full of goodies, the sales are in progress and people are running around almost a month early seeking gifts for their loved one's, their kids friends, a lover or "whoever" they usually give to.
This year I decided to make it a "family affair" instead of just a romantic "escape from reality." Although I love being spoiled and given lots of attention from my husband, I do feel that all the pressure on this one day kind of takes the fun out of it! Why not celebrate the love you have with someone a couple days a year? How about on a Friday in October?
The point is that part of me feels like I'm leaving the kids out to go and have some "mommy and daddy" time on this "calendar marked day" and part of me feels like "I have been conned!" Here I am writing about a holiday that occurs on February 14th. Today I ventured into an Arts and Crafts store to buy my youngest a wooden birdhouse to paint and as I walked through various isles, I noticed a lot of shelves with SALE signs on them. When I got closer to the products, I noticed that they were Valentine's decorations of all sorts. I thought to myself, "this must be really bad if they are putting Valentine's stuff on sale almost a month before the actual holiday!
So, I packed up on Valentine's stickers with glitter on them so that my daughter can decorate cards for her friends. I ventured around until I saw baking pans for Valentine's cakes and cupcakes and then I suddenly stopped myself before I bought everything that I do not need! After all we usually make regular cupcakes and decorate them with candy! Sometimes we make cookies in the shape of hearts and sometimes we decorate a cake with hearts made of frosting. This is the old fashioned way without buying all sorts of Valentine expert gear!
My husband and I have been together for sixteen years and we have had quite a few romantic Valentine's dates. He knows what makes me really happy and I can tell you, not much. I'm the happiest when I'm not "pressured" to be or "act a certain way" on a particular day. He knows I like to be surprised and he knows that I love to be with the kids on holidays. We used to book a hotel for the evening a few years ago and we would hire a sitter for Valentine's Day, but now that the kids are older it is fun to include them.
