Why Valentines Day

Well it's coming...that day that you either look forward to all year long or the day you dread most over all others.

Valentine's day.

My kids keep asking me why do we celebrate Valentine's day?

They know that Halloween is for dressing up and begging for candy.

Christmas is Jesus' birthday and we are a year away from blowing up Santa's secret.

Easter is for chocolate bunnies and rejoicing that Jesus died for us and rose again.

Yes, I am Christian and sarcastic. God still loves me.

4th of July, the birthday of our country.

They even know what MLK day is and Veterans day.

But some how they just can't figure out what is so special about Valentines day.

Or more precisely the why of it.

We try to teach our kids to be loving and kind every day, so having a single day doesn't make sense to them or me.

I remember being a teenager and dreaming about having a boyfriend that would give me a giant stuffed bear, chocolates and flowers and declare his undying love for me.

In high school somebody had the brilliant idea to have a "send a sentiment" where you could purchase a flower and send a note that would be delivered in homeroom on Valentines day.

I was at least smart enough to rope all my girlfriends into sending each other one, so we didn't look like complete losers.

Then in 10th grade I did have a boyfriend, which meant my valentines day dreams would come true.

Nope. He bought me a card that was "funny", told me flowers wilt and chocolate will make me fat. He decided that the one thing I needed, was a good laugh.

He wasn't wrong, I did take things a lot more seriously back then, but it gave me something to think about.

DO I really want to put so much stock into this one day that tells us to show our love.

Did this person buy me this card, bear, chocolate, or flowers because they thought about ME or because they thought I would be sad, or unhappy with them if they didn't?

I'd rather have sweet acts of love through out the year...open doors for me, empty the dishwasher, grab a bag of Cadbury eggs when the stores put them out...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Valentine hater...I just like my love spread around.

I don't like getting a class list from school only to find the list is 22-26 kids and the valentines only come in boxes of 18 and treats come 15 per bag, so I end up spending $35 dollars on something my kids "doesn't have to participate" in.

You know that's not going to happen because 4 of those kids names on that list MUST get a Valentine...forget crafting cute little things too. As much as I love Pinterest, I'm not falling for that. (I did it once for Butter's preschool class of 12 ans thought my hands were going to fall off!)

 

I like to make a big deal about birthdays. Now there is something to CELEBRATE!

For Valentines day we keep it simple.

We write little love notes for each other and read them out loud after dinner. I also try to put more effort into dinner and actually make a dessert.

For us, it's just another day, but maybe for others, they need the reminder to show the people in their lives they are loved and appreicated.

In which case, I feel lucky that the ones I share my life with treat each other lovingly all year round.

 

What do you plan to do this Valentines day?