Hello to all of my great gal pals! Welcome Back! Hope you all enjoyed the long holiday weekend. I know I did. Actually mine was great because my husband returned from an army conference he was attending in North Carolina and we caught up on our Valentine's Day celebration and even made a short road trip to a nearby historic town where we had lunch, did some wine tasting and window shopping. It was fun and really nice to spend some quality time with my hubby.
Our fun day trip to Galena, Illinois :)
It got me thinking how many of us (including myself) put great emphasis on holidays like Valentine's Day with all of the cards, chocolate, gifts and high expectations of romance instead of just enjoying each day with our loved ones. Valentine's Day, while cute and fun as school children, becomes a tad more complicated as adults. It's as if on this day our hearts become extra fragile and prone to injury if our loved ones don't proclaim their love for us either through words or actions on this special day. But why? Isn't it silly how many of us (inlcuding us gals) have high expectations for our significant other to perform on this day? For many of us couples it becomes a day of high expectations (especially for women) and pressure (for our guys). It's totally silly when you think about it. So I came up with this list of reasons for not celebrating Valentine's Day on February 14th with your significant other.
Place Less Emphasis on Valentine's Day Because...
1. You are setting yourself up for disapointment. Women tend to have expectations and this in turn makes the man feel like he is in a pressure cooker or even worse, a failure if he falls short of your expectations. Talk about disasturous results when all you intended to do was create an atmosphere of love.
2. Celebrating love should not be restricted to one or two days out of the year. Everyday should be a celebration of love for one and other. This weekend I made a romantic dinner for my hubby as soon as the baby went down for the night and it got me thinking, "why don't we do this more often", so I think we will try to do it once a month from now on.
Here's the table-scape I came up with for this past weekend's dinner
3. And this is one of my favorite reasons....you don't get caught paying high prices for balloon boquets, flowers, candy, dinner, cards, etc...Since my hubby was gone on Valentine's Day, I was able to get him balloons and a card for 50% off. What a deal!
Psst....I only paid $1.50 at Walmart for that huge card! :)
Now, this being said, I'm not suggesting that you ignore Valentine's Day all together and dodge cupid's arrow. (Obviously...you can see that from the above photos). I'm merely suggesting that instead of placing all of the emphasis on your significant other, you instead place your focus elsewhere on this fun day. Here are some alternative ways that you can celebrate this holiday:
1. Put the emphasis on the children in your life - If you have children or perhaps are an aunt or unlce, you can devote this day to them. Do a fun project with them or send them a Valentine greeting. Help them get dresssed in red or pink clothes. Make them special red or heart shaped food like pancakes or sandwiches cutout with heart shaped cooking cutters.
2. Get together with the girls. I did this one year when I was single. It was fun! We had a Valentine's Day cookie party where each of us baked a dozen Valentine themed cookies and traded so when we left each of us had about a dozen cookies of different types. We had candles lit and flowers everywhere and love music playing in background and we just sat, chattted and ate cookies.
3. Do something charitable for someone else. This is especically good if you aren't in a relationship. Sometimes the best way to feel loved and appreciated is to show love. Make cookies for the neighbors, bring in donuts to the office, take an elderly loved one out to lunch or volunteer to babysit for family or friends so they can go out.
So next Valentine's Day just remember its not the only day that we should share our love. Afterall, loving your significant other should not be restricted to one or two special days a year. Make any day a special day to celebrate your love for each other.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
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